Alys Williams, A Jar (2010)

Medium: Video Painting, Projection, Color and no sound

Dimensions: 23 Scapes | Duration: 1 hour, 53 min., 28 sec.

Collection: Video Painting Solo Series

Edition of 7

Reference: VPSS-AWAJ10

A Jar is Williams' second video painting collection; Part two of the artist's enquiry into the boundary between the built and natural environment. The series of works presents this border through a poetic exploration of the window, door and most pertinently the hinge. These everyday architectural features are used to expose the play between an internal domestic space and an external natural ‘wilderness’, whilst the absence of a human subject engulfs each image.

Daydreaming in the Office is a good example of this competition. Plant life is seen overlaid on buildings - twisting its way through windows and casting geometric shadows on a building which has lost its previous expression of ornament.

Williams succeeds again in delicately portraying the supposed foe of the natural world as a patient, steady and unyieldingly permanent force. However, the study is taken a step further, the reflective surface of the window is exploited to create movement, changing compositions and optical illusions within the fixed pictorial frame; surface and light playing a key role in the drama throughout the collection.

Alys Williams lives and works in London. Major exhibitions include: My Place in Between, ICA, London and The Hangar of UMAM D&R, Beirut; Portico, Romadesign + International Expo, The British School at Rome, Rome; The Allogory of the Cave, Art Container, Tallinn; Un:Place, Jerwood Space, London; MA Scenoworks 2004, Central St Martins. Williams is also the curator of Vitrine Gallery in Bermondsey and curated a major exhibition on Hoxton Square in 2011.

Alys Williams’ video work is held in collections by the Institute of Art and Ideas, the Square Gallery and various private collectors in Europe.

Click here to view Alys Williams' Artist Page & Biography.