At first glance, the violent and sarcastic universe created by one of the great leaders of independent art and American art in general, Robert Williams, may surprise, excite, or upset the viewer, but upon closer study, the deeper meaning is discovered.
Youth
Williams, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 2, 1943, grew up in a rather capricious environment because his father and mother were married four times, so he was bounced repeatedly between his father who lived in Montgomery, Alabama and the his mother’s house in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Therefore, his only true companion was art, he drew and painted from an early age.
When Robert Williams was twelve years old, this future low-brow art genius failed the ninth grade twice and was expelled from the public school system for habitual truancy and code of conduct violations. His only real interest was to be an artist, and while he doggedly pursued this aspiration, he first became involved in gang activity that resulted in public arrests for drunkenness and got into fights. Says Williams, “There wasn’t a real bohemian society in Albuqueque for me to follow. There were some people like that that hung around college who were addicted to drugs and stuff. Obviously I was going to get in a lot of trouble if I stayed in Alburqueque. I was trying to get an art education.”
THE
Because there were few opportunities in Albuquerque, he went to Los Angeles in 1963. He was drawn to the movie industry and the mystical Los Angeles hot rod. Says Williams, “You know, my interest was to pursue an art career and associate myself with this hot rod karma that I’d read about for years in car magazines.”
He became an editorial cartoonist for the LACC newspaper, The Collegiate, and lost himself in the theory and technique of art. He also tried to advertise at the prestigious The Chouinard Art Institute, but was turned down for his insistence on mastering technical virtuosity and painterly representation, so recognizable in his later Low Brow artwork, while focusing on Expressionism. abstract. emphasizing unrecognizable images.
Ed “Big Daddy” Roth
Then, after a series of unsuccessful attempts, the manager of the unemployment office offered her a job that would completely change her life. This job was on a ‘freak’ named Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Williams knew his name and reputation and later said: “I was told the monster running it was a guy named Big Daddy and I said, ‘Wait a minute, would that be Ed Roth?’ They said yes, and I said, ‘Let me do it. I was born for this job.’
In Ed Roth’s shop, cars were built freestyle, and he did it faster, more efficiently, and with unmatched style. This is where Robert Williams got the inspiration and most of the ideas for Low Brow Art from him.In the garage of his studio, Roth kept the house open, resulting in a colorful amalgamation of people who frequented the place. of the. Says Williams, “Every day something incredible would happen. In the morning, the recording crew for Sam the Sham and the Pharaos would walk in and a few minutes behind them would be Sonny Barger and some angels.”
Williams’ work consisted of creating monthly advertising, graphic design work, working on elaborate hot rod projects (such as The Rat Fink and Peace Fink), and at times also contributing to Roth’s Chopper Magazine. When Roth’s financially rewarding partnership with Revell Models failed due to his loyalty to Hell’s Angels, he quietly sold all of his inventory and closed the studio doors. Most of the show cars, original art, and graphic designs by him were sold to James Brucker Jr., who also purchased many of Robert Williams’s significant low brow art paintings.
low brow art
Thanks to Brucker’s support, Williams was able to work on his paintings for longer periods of time. In his work at the time he already demonstrated that he had mastered not only the intricate priming and overglazing techniques of his Renaissance and Flemish predecessors, but also the theoretical nuances of the modernists.
In 1974 he underwent a complete paradigm shift by breaking with the general “rule” of traditional pictorial canonizations which dictated that the dark border line encompassing all shapes in cartoons should be avoided at all times. In his view, the exaggerated cartoon forms were the truest and purest examples of abstraction comparable to the origins of art, found in Paleolithic cave paintings.