Artist statement
Based at Bankley Studios, Manchester, working in a broad interdisciplinary practice including painting, sculpture, the moving image and ever emerging technologies, Gary James Williams enquires into the creative potentials of the narrative structure in coming to terms with the everyday and real-world phenomena in contemporary art practice. Strategically flaunting our relationship with the representational, the omnipresent and the fabrication of apparent universalisms, a continuing methodology in the artists practice discusses a re-working of familiar cultural imagery. Signifiers become the signified in the works approaches and processes, addressing issues of identity and authorship, where more formal issues realise a uniqueness and authenticity, revealing a quieter sensitivity of our at times complex relationship with the material and the ephemeral. As
the spectacle constantly rediscovers its own assumptions more concretely (Dubord), the artists practice intentionally establishes a developing proposition of the viewer and the arena of story telling, recovering an immediacy, finding an opening through the elusive, seductive and sensual world of projection and representation.
Qualifications and training
- 2001 PGCE HE FE in Art & Design, Walsall School of Education, Wolverhampton University, Walsall/Wolverhampton
- 1999 Master of Fine Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
Solo exhibitions
- 2009 In Transcience - incidents & interventions..., Gallery Oldham, Oldham
- 2009 In Transcience - incidents & interventions..., NL/UK Touring Exhibition, Gallery Oldham 2009, Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield 2008, Gallery Forma Aktua, Groningen 2007., NL/UK
- 2008 In Transience - incidents & interventions..., Persistence Works, Yorkshire Art Space, Sheffield
- 2007 In Transience - incidents & interventions..., Galerie Forma Aktua, Groningen, NL (more info)
- 2001 new horizons, Bankley Gallery, Manchester (more info)
- 1999 Art Tours Programme, New York City, New York, USA
- 1999 24 Hours, The Mall, Bay Area, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA. (more info)
Group exhibitions
- 2012 Mystery Land, Z-Arts Centre, Manchester
- 2011 Pursuing the narrative, Bankley Gallery, Manchester
- 2011 We are all in this together, Bureau Gallery, Manchester
- 2007 Deep Fields, Bankley Gallery, Manchester (more info)
- 2006 Food and Drink, Queen Street Studios Gallery, Belfast (more info)
- 1999 'Blind Date' touring exhibtion, UC Davis CA/UC Berkeley CA/ Manchester Metropolitan University, USA/UK (more info)
Degree shows
- 1999 Everything & More, Grosvenor Building, Manchester Metropolitan University
Curated projects
- 2012 '60 DRAWINGS', Bankley Gallery, Manchester
- 2006 ARTISTS CUT, Bankley Gallery, Manchester (more info)
- 2001 Phenomena - 11 North West artists coming to terms with the everyday, Bankley Gallery, Manchester (more info)
Residencies
- 2006 Artist in Residence, Van Dijk Maxillo Faciaal Tandtecnish Laboratorium, Groningen, NL
- 1996 Artist in Residence, Steim Foundation, Amsterdam, NL
- 1995 Artist in Residence, Steim Foundation, Amsterdam, NL
Competitions, prizes and awards
- 2006 Arts Council of England - Grants for the Arts Individual Award, Residency at the Van Dijk MFT Laboratorium, Manchester UK/Groningen, NL
- 2003 Grants for the Arts Organisation Award – to curate ‘Draw in the Crowds’ artist exhibition as part of, Bankley Gallery, Manchester
- 1999 Travel Award: Visiting Artist UC Berkeley / UC Davis California USA, Fine Art Department, Manchester Metropolitan University
- 1998 Burasry - to attend International Symposium of Electronic Art ISEA'98, Awarded by ISEA ’98., Liverpool/Manchester (more info)
- 1995 North West Arts Board-Grants for the Arts Individual Award, to take up residency at the STEIM Foundation. Amsterdam, NL, Liverpool/Amsterdam
- 1995 Bursary Award - Avid non-linear editing, awarded by Liverpool City Council, Mersey Film & Video, North West Arts Board, Liverpool
Web links - gallery/work/projects
