The show, entitled “Conceptual Realism In the Service of the Hypothetical” was most definitely high brow in name and in intent (Williams’ artist’s statement , in which he breaks down the philosophy of conceptual art, is worded so as to appeal largely to critics and theorists.) But the work itself was gleefully accessible—one wouldn’t expect anything less from the artist who invented the term "lowbrow", with his groundbreaking 1979 book, Lowbrow Art of Robt. Williams.
Inspired and schooled by legendary custom car builder Ed "Big Daddy" Roth in the mid-1960s, Robert Williams learned, along with his peers (Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Victor Moscoso and Rick Griffin) how to carve his own path and exist outside the walls of traditional contemporary galleries.
Initially dismissed as a rookie outsider, it took many years for Williams and those of his ilk to gain the respect they deserved. On October 31 2009, the well-dressed crowds at the Tony Scharfazi gallery spoke for themselves— Caroline Ryder / Hurley Art
For more, go to: www.robtwilliamsstudio.com.
