Having only recently shifted her focus from sculpture to oil painting, Austin based painter Kati Williams will be a new name to most of our readers. Her dramatically lit images of mythological figures are heavily influenced by Baroque painting and the old masters of Romanticism, and a visit to her instagram will catch her admiring contemporary artists like Roberto Ferri and Brad Kunkle (featured in HF Vol. 25), who are also applying antiquated techniques. Though the difference between three-dimensional sculpture and two-dimensional painting is substantial, Williams likens the process of painting to building a sculpture, where she meticulously layers colors and glazes until eventually, light forms out of utter darkness. Her paintings clearly incorporate the innovations of different traditions of art from the past, but at the same time they are also very contemporary. Framed by intimate and closely cropped compositions, her freckle faced deities take command over elements like air, water, fire and mossy earth with a boldness that surpasses their classical predecessors. She says, “I find endless inspiration from human nature and its propensity to personify concepts that are bigger than one can comprehend. Giving these concepts faces, I suppose, helps us relate and understand better how they fit into our life’s meaning. I believe this is why people are drawn to myths, fairytales, or religion. They all have lessons woven into them about the mysteries in life and its purpose.” Kati Williams is now showing new works, alongside Dennis Mcnett aka “Wolfbat”, at Artists Republic in Laguna Beach, CA through February 14th, 2016.
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