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Robin F. Williams - Artists - PPOW

Robin F. Williams, 2024. 
Photo by Curtis Wallen.

Known for their large-scale paintings of stylized, sentient, yet ambiguously generated female figures, Robin F. Williams (b. 1984) meticulously deploys oil, airbrush, poured paint, marbling, and staining to construct deeply textured and complex compositions that transcend an identifiable medium. With a masterful technical understanding and an innate sense of curiosity, Williams fuses imagery from social media channels with references to early modernism, pop culture, advertising, and cinema, to challenge the systemic conventions around representations of women. Williams received their BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and has presented solo exhibitions at P·P·O·W, New York, NY; Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, CA; Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, MA; Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY; and Morán Morán, Mexico City, Mexico. Their work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions nationally and internationally including In New York, Thinking of You (Part I), Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY; I’m Not Your Mother, P·P·O·W, New York, NY; Fire Figure Fantasy, ICA Miami, Miami, FL; Present Generations, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Bitter Nest, Galerie Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan; XENIA: Crossroads in Portrait Painting, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY; Nicolas Party: Pastel, Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY; SEED, curated by Yvonne Force, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY; among others. Their work is currently in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Collection Majudia, Montreal, Canada; the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; X Museum, Beijing, China; among others. Robin F. Williams: We’ve Been Expecting You, Williams’ first solo institutional exhibition, was on view in Summer 2024 at the Columbus Museum of Art. Good Mourning, the artist's fifth solo exhibition with P·P·O·W, is on view until October 26.

Robin F. Williams

b. 1984, Columbus, OH
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

Education

2006
B.F.A. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI

Solo Exhibitions

2024
Good Mourning, P·P·O·W, New York, NY (forthcoming)
Undying, Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan
Robin F. Williams: We've Been Expecting You, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH 

2023
Watch Yourself, Morán Morán, Mexico City, Mexico

2021
Out Lookers, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Final Resting Face, Pace Prints, New York, NY

2019
With Pleasure, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, CA

2017
Your Good Taste is Showing, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

2016
Trailing Off, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, MA

2014
Sons of the Pioneers, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

2011
Rescue Party, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

2009
New Work, Space 414, Brooklyn, NY

2008
After Birth, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY

Select Group Exhibitions

2024
FULL DISCLOSURE: Selections from the Thomas-Suwall Collection, The Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND
Le vernissage, partie un, Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, France

2023
Ravens and Crows, Winter Street Gallery and Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, France
Women on the Verge, curated by Lisa Wainwright, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Pictures Girls Make: Portraitures, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
This American Life, Morán Morán, Los Angeles, CA 
In New York, Thinking of You (Part I), Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY, April 1-29, 

2022
Even a Cat Can Look at the Queen, Mrs. Gallery, Maspeth, NY
I’m Not Your Mother, P·P·O·W, New York, NY 
Finger Bang, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
A Few Small Nips, Mrs., Queens, NY 
Fire Figure Fantasy: Selections from ICA Miami's Collection, ICA Miami, Miami, FL

2021
Applied Anxiety, Allouche Benias, Athens, Greece
Present Generations: Creating the Scantland Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Bitter Nest, Galerie Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan

2020
Artists for New York, Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY
Fragmented Bodies, Albertz Benda, New York, NY
XENIA: Crossroads in Portrait Painting, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY

2019
Post Analog Studio, The Hole, New York, NY
Nicolas Party: Pastel, Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY

2018
SEED, curated by Yvonne Force, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY
PLUS ONE, Project: ARTspace, New York, NY

2017
Post Analog Painting II, The Hole, New York, NY
Separation Anxiety, Project: ARTspace, New York, NY

2016
Et in Arcadia Ego, New Museum Los Gatos, Los Gatos, CA
The Woman Destroyed, curated by Anneliis Beadnell, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Expo Chicago, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

2015
The Earth is All I Know of Wonder: Contemporary Responses to Hartley, Driscoll Babcock, New York, NY

2014
Escape from New York! New Garde Now, Gallery Poulsen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sargent’s Daughters, New York, NY

2013
Skin Trade, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

2012
100 Little Deaths, BravinLee Programs, New York, NY
Wassaic Project Summer Exhibition, Wassaic Projects, Wassaic, NY
Texas Contemporary, P·P·O·W, Houston, TX
EXPO Chicago, P·P·O·W, Chicago, IL
Seven, P·P·O·W, Miami, FL
RISD Icons, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI

2011
Pulse LA Art Fair, P·P·O·W, Los Angeles, CA
Suggestivism, CSUF Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA
Seven, P·P·O·W, Miami, FL

2010
Marked: A Show of Figure, Like the Spice Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
The Antidote, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY
Grand Central Art Center, New York, NY

2009
Vintage Violence, Space 414, Brooklyn, NY
American Dream, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY
Old School, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY
Wassaic Project Summer Exhibition, Wassaic Projects, Wassaic, NY

2008
Scope Miami, Jack the Pelican Presents, Miami, FL
Emerging Artists…at any age, L.A. Art House, Los Angeles, CA

2007
Scope Miami, Jack the Pelican Presents, Miami, FL
Empty Nest: The Changing Face of Childhood in Art, 1880 to the Present, Nathan A. Bernstein & Co. Ltd., New York, NY
Scope Hamptons, Jack the Pelican Presents, Wainscott, NY
Fecal Face 7.5 Anniversary Show, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Fall Season, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY
Winter Faction, Lineage Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2006
$760,000 Show, Senior Exhibition, ISB Gallery, Providence, RI
RISD Senior Showcase, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
RISD Senior Illustration Show, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI

2005
RISD Athena Awards, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, New York, NY

Honors and Awards

2019
Artist in Residence, La Napoule Art Foundation, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, France

2018
Visual Artist Fellowship, Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY

2012
Josephine Mercy Heathcote Fellow at The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH

2011
MacDowell Colony Fellowship, Peterborough, NH

2010
Brooklyn Academy of Music Spring “Playbill Artist,” Brooklyn, NY

Public Collections

Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, West Palm Beach, FL
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
CC Foundation, Shanghai, China
Collection Majudia, Montreal, Canada
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada 
X Museum, Beijing, China
Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK

Select Bibliography

2024
Berenz, Sarah. “Robin F. Williams: We’ve Been Expecting You.” Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, 2024. 

2022
Luckraft, Paul, and Elizabeth Neilson, editors. “Robin F. Williams in Conversation with Paul Luckraft.” The Stand-Ins: Figurative Painting from the Zabludowicz Collection, Zabludowicz Collection, London, 2022, pp. 12–23.
Pellerin, Ananda, editor. “Robin F. Williams.” Why I Make Art: Contemporary Artists’ Stories About Life & Work, 1st ed., Atelier Editions, Los Angeles, CA, 2022, pp. 313–324.
Young, Allison K. “Robin F. Williams.” Great Women Painters, Phaidon Press Limited, London, 2022, p. 321. 

2021
Stephenson, Sarah, editor. “In Conversation with Louis Fraction, Loie Hollowell, Nicolas Party, Billy Sullivan, Robin F. Williams.” PASTEL: An Exhibition by Nicholas Party, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY, 2021, pp. 124–145. 

2020
Goldstein, Caroline. “Studio Visit: Painter Robin F. Williams on Her Newfound Fascination with TikTok and How She Sustains a Sense of Wonder at Work,” Artnet News, September 15, 2020.
Indrisek, Scott. “Robin F. Williams Revels in the Craft of Painting,” Artsy, March 27, 2020.

2019
Maziar, Paul. “Social Criticism, with Pleasure: Robin F. Williams at Various Small Fires,” October 3, 2019.
Liberty, Megan N. “Robin F. Williams: Model Behavior,” Juxtapoz, May 29, 2019.

2018
Langmuir, Molly. “Who’s Afraid of the Female Nude? Paintings of naked women, usually by clothed men, are suddenly sitting very uncomfortably on gallery walls.” The Cut, April 18, 2018.

2017
Smith, Roberta. “What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week” The New York Times, November 1, 2017.
Deters, Alexandria. “In Conversation with Robin F. Williams: Using Provocation and Power in her Female-Focused Paintings” Gallery Girls, October 29, 2017.

2016
Molesky, David. “Robin F. Williams: The Hero Painter” Juxtapoz, July 18, 2016.
Frank, Priscilla. “Today’s Artists Are Sick of History Framing Women as Perfect” The Huffington Post, June 30, 2016.
Kugler, Alec. “Robin Williams’ All-Female ‘70s Inspired Artwork” Coveteur, December 3, 2016.

2014
Friedman, Julia. “Dreaming of Fluorescent Men,” Hyperallergic, March 5, 2014.
Valdez, Aldrin. “A New Sympathetic Masculine Mythology,” Art Slant, March 12, 2014.
”10 Hypnotic Paintings That Challenge Art’s Obsession with the Female Nude,” Huffington Post, February 28, 2014.

2013
“Robin Williams,” Naked but Safe, #3.

2011
Moore, Caitlin. Beautiful Decay, Book 6 The Future Project Issue.
Larkin, Corina. “Robin Williams, Rescue Party,” The Brooklyn Rail, March 4, 2011.
Heinrich, Will. “The Painting Looks at Us: Robin Williams’ First Solo Show”, The New York Observer Feb 1, 2011.
Sutton, Benjamin. “Creepy Toys and Awkward Kids”, The L Magazine, Feb 16, 2011.
Drumm, Perrin. “Robin Williams solo show at PPOW gallery”, SUNfiltered, February 8, 2011.

Selected Works

Selected Works Thumbnails
Robin F. Williams
Speak of the Devil, 2021
acrylic on canvas
57 x 57 ins.
144.8 x 144.8 cm

Robin F. Williams
Speak of the Devil, 2021
acrylic on canvas
57 x 57 ins.
144.8 x 144.8 cm

Robin F. Williams
Ghost in Labor, 2020
oil and acrylic on canvas
64 x 84 ins.
162.6 x 213.4 cm

Robin F. Williams
Ghost in Labor, 2020
oil and acrylic on canvas
64 x 84 ins.
162.6 x 213.4 cm

Robin F. Williams
Bechdel Yetis, 2020
oil, acrylic and Flashe on canvas
96 x 66 ins.
243.8 x 167.6 cm

Robin F. Williams
Bechdel Yetis, 2020
oil, acrylic and Flashe on canvas
96 x 66 ins.
243.8 x 167.6 cm

Robin F. Williams
Siri Keeps the Faith, 2021
oil and acrylic on canvas
48 x 56 ins.
121.9 x 142.2 cm

Robin F. Williams
Siri Keeps the Faith, 2021
oil and acrylic on canvas
48 x 56 ins.
121.9 x 142.2 cm

Robin F. Williams
Siri Defends Her Honor, 2019
oil and acrylic on canvas
40 x 60 ins.
101.6 x 152.4 cm

Robin F. Williams
Siri Defends Her Honor, 2019
oil and acrylic on canvas
40 x 60 ins.
101.6 x 152.4 cm

Robin F. Williams
Good Sport, 2019
Acrylic and oil on canvas
60 x 66 ins.
152.4 x 167.6 cm

Robin F. Williams
Good Sport, 2019
Acrylic and oil on canvas
60 x 66 ins.
152.4 x 167.6 cm

Robin F. Williams
Speak of the Devil, 2021
acrylic on canvas
57 x 57 ins.
144.8 x 144.8 cm

Robin F. Williams
Speak of the Devil, 2021
acrylic on canvas
57 x 57 ins.
144.8 x 144.8 cm

Robin F. Williams
Ghost in Labor, 2020
oil and acrylic on canvas
64 x 84 ins.
162.6 x 213.4 cm

Robin F. Williams
Ghost in Labor, 2020
oil and acrylic on canvas
64 x 84 ins.
162.6 x 213.4 cm

Robin F. Williams
Bechdel Yetis, 2020
oil, acrylic and Flashe on canvas
96 x 66 ins.
243.8 x 167.6 cm

Robin F. Williams
Bechdel Yetis, 2020
oil, acrylic and Flashe on canvas
96 x 66 ins.
243.8 x 167.6 cm

Robin F. Williams
Siri Keeps the Faith, 2021
oil and acrylic on canvas
48 x 56 ins.
121.9 x 142.2 cm

Robin F. Williams
Siri Keeps the Faith, 2021
oil and acrylic on canvas
48 x 56 ins.
121.9 x 142.2 cm

Robin F. Williams
Siri Defends Her Honor, 2019
oil and acrylic on canvas
40 x 60 ins.
101.6 x 152.4 cm

Robin F. Williams
Siri Defends Her Honor, 2019
oil and acrylic on canvas
40 x 60 ins.
101.6 x 152.4 cm

Robin F. Williams
Good Sport, 2019
Acrylic and oil on canvas
60 x 66 ins.
152.4 x 167.6 cm

Robin F. Williams
Good Sport, 2019
Acrylic and oil on canvas
60 x 66 ins.
152.4 x 167.6 cm

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