(Above) Night and the Olmec, (Olmec-Maya series) (1983). Oil on Canvas. © Estate of Aubrey Williams, DACS (2009)
Exhibition: Aubrey Williams: Atlantic Fire, The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, until April 11 2010
Produced in partnership with the October Gallery in London, Atlantic Fire takes a fresh look at the work of the powerful Guyanese artist Aubrey Williams.
The Walker's contribution to Liverpool's Black Atlantic season is displayed in a 1960s minimalist style which really allows the work to stand out, adding an additional room packed with contextual information.
Reyahn King, Director of Art Galleries at National Museums Liverpool, is hoping that the Walker's exhibition will re-establish Williams as an important British artist and reignite interest from both the public and art buffs alike.
"Williams is a painters' painter and I feel that his work would hang in any collection, but people don't know about him," he says. "A small band of people have been saying for a long time, 'why is this the case? Why has he been over looked?'"
Shostakovich Symphony no 14, opus 135, 1981. Oil on Canvas. © Estate of Aubrey Williams. DACS (2009)
Williams was very successful in the pro-Commonwealth 1960s but fell out of favour in the 1970s and 1980s as the British public and art world turned their attentions to Europe.
"In the 1980s he made a clear decision to overtly use symbols of the Mayans and South Americans, such as Olmec Heads and disembodied floating figures which can be seen in works such as Codex II and Night and the Olmec," says King.
"At the time people just didn't get his bringing together of the figurative and the abstract and thought he had lost the plot. Now we are a lot more open minded and not driven by modern artistic rules."
The artist also embraced a colour pallet inspired by the Mayans, often using his own pigments to create rich, organic and natural colours for his paintings.
There is a real sense of fire and burning – a tragic excitement to the pieces such as Now and Coming Time III. Williams believed that the mysterious decline of the Mayans held a warning for us. The Mayans worshipped the sun and recognised it both as a life-giving and destructive force. There was a sense of fear.
According to King, "Williams believed their mysterious decline could have stemmed from their failure to understand the impact of technology on their environment, and feared the same fate for us today."
Hymn to the Sun IV, (Olmec-Maya series) (1984). Oil on Canvas. © Estate of Aubrey Williams. DACS (2009)
Atlantic Fire is fascinating from a technical point of view – the turbulent textures of the work form fluid, bubble-like patterns. Dry and almost peeling brush strokes draw the viewer in to take a closer look.
"The bubbles in Quartet No 11 Opus 122 from the Shostakovich series are typical of his work, created by throwing turps at the canvas – very like the techniques used by Pollock," points out King.
"Another of his techniques makes it appear like paint has been carefully peeled away or stopped. Conservators do not know how it was done. It would be incredibly difficult to do with oils."
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