Oil on canvas, signed with artist's initial to the verso, gallery wrapped canvas.

36 x 24 in.

From the Collection of Brandon Cordrey and Dr. Brent Simoneaux, Raleigh, North Carolina

William Paul Thomas is a painter, photographer and videographer based in Durham, North Carolina. This year, he is featured in two solo exhibitions, one at UNC-Asheville and the other at UNC-Greensboro. His work was included in two important group exhibitions at the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham, Reckoning and Resilience: North Carolina Art Now (2022), and the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting (2020).

Artist Statement (from the artist's website):
I paint representations of disembodied heads of people in my social circle and sometimes scrawl text directly over their likenesses. That text is often tinged with dry humor, at times it is politically incorrect, and is regularly derived from the spoken vernacular of the communities I have lived in. My overarching goal is to share with diverse audiences what I see as worthwhile subject matter. That might include religious symbolism or popular slang. I make pictures to document select parts of my life.

Many of us have immediate psychological connections to representations of the human face. We look for similarities between ourselves and those represented; note key differences between “us” and “them.” “He looks like so-and-so.” “She reminds me of whatshername.” Assumptions or questions about the subject’s state of mind usually follow. If the expression that the subject wears is ambiguous enough, we might begin to project our own emotions onto them to interpret the painting's message.

I choose specific models as a way of recognizing their significance in my life’s path. I relish being able to honor everyday people through making images. We regularly celebrate women and men of prominence in mass media, so I take advantage of the opportunity to highlight the people that impact me on a more direct level than any untouchable celebrity or distant historical figure could. I integrate text and other symbols into the portrait work to narrow the subject matter to a certain degree and complicate the viewer’s understanding of the portrait subject’s identity. The work begins as an intimate acknowledgement of an individual and is subsequently transformed into a set of symbols poised for the viewer’s investigation.

This is a portrait of Antoine Williams, an artist raised in Red Springs, North Carolina. Williams's mixed-media work is heavily influenced by science fiction and his rural, working-class background. He has exhibited widely, including Mint Museum of Art, Michigan State University, Columbia Museum of Art, Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, 21c Museum, and others. He is an assistant professor of art at Guilford College.

Good estate condition.