William will be showing his works in the Old Piggery in the lovely village of Little Wittenham. Located on the edge of an ancient orchard surrounded by wild-flowers, and with a spectacular view across open countryside the Old Piggery is a new art space being developed by the artists Liz Gascoigne. The building itself is an authentic piece of rural/industrial architecture with many of its original features left intact. On either side of the main gallery are the pig sties which will also be used to display art. At the front will be a seating area with wonderful views. This promises to be a very unique experience with William's edgy, yet very lovely pieces, working perfectly with urban chic of the exhibition space.
William Watkin is a late-blooming self-taught abstract artist whose work first came to the market in the summer of 2023. His canvases are intense and dynamic explorations of colour, gesture, surface, and texture through the use of stripes. His work is concerned with materiality, process, and thinking abstraction through geometric grids and complex colour combinations.
Inspired by Gerhard Richter’s work Watkin uses various paddles and tools to create highly textured and rhythmically abraded surfaces onto which multiple, thick layers of paint are added over time and then removed repeatedly until the image is formed.
The final pieces are astonishingly rich in intensity of colour, detail and are very tactile. There is a lot going on across the surface, but from a distance they attain a beauty and harmony that is absorbing and immersive. These are very much works that need to be seen in person to fully appreciate their gorgeous colours and complex patterns.
The inspiration of Turner, Monet, Rothko, Pollock and Richter is clear. But William is also influenced by grids, crosshatching and weaving. His work shows signs of Durer, Mondrian, brutalist architecture, Polish kilims, tartan kilts, basketry, data systems and DNA.
This is his first solo show and his first time showing in Oxfordshire Artweeks.