The content of my artwork explores the tangible experiences of my past as well as the current events that I experience presently. In a very simple manner my artwork acts as a form of re-constructive surgery. Often I explore elements of my past that were harmful to me as a Black American. When I was young I was restrained and incapable of correcting the injustices inflicted upon me. Now that I am older and stronger and have a capacity to view the world differently, I often use my artwork to comment on a personal history that must be illuminated if I wish to proceed with unwavering integrity.
As an artist and a teacher I find my self excavating repressed memories, and I must be careful not to cover recent experiences with un-toppled soil. My archeological digging often brings back painful memories and I address those memories with an aesthetic intervention. My art work is never created in anger. I work objectively, often researching area and experiences of my past that I can only vaguely recollect. Books can remember what the mind can not, that is why they are always present in my work.
My steadfast ambition as an artist is to influence my daily actions with aesthetic ponderings and to influence my aesthetic vision with my daily activities. To achieve this I must cultivate a voice that is visual. This voice must possess three essential elements, it must be metaphoric, it must invoke endless questions and it must be vulnerable. To sustain and clarify my voice has become my life long mission. I am fortunate that my resources are infinite as each moment experienced expires from present to past there is always new art to made. For me living and the process of making art are seamless; I would have it no other way. Making art is my salvation and my burden.
My art is an extension of my self-invention
I use my art as a form of personal research
I use my art as a form of personal protest
I use my art as a platform to step on to see over segregated walls
I use my art as a blindfold to buffer pain
I use my art as a weapon to combat social injustices
I use my art as a tool too justify the truth
I use my art as a tool justify lies
I use my art to explore my feelings
I use my art to expose my feelings
I use my art to conceal my feelings
I make my art because it is my acquisition of wealth
I use my art as a substitute for religion
I use my art to conceal my fear of living
I use my art to veil my fear of dying
I make my art because when I see the art that I make
I am more likely to forgive the brutal concealment of America’s History
Randy Williams
Randy Williams 