Sonny Williams
Due to the possibilities of imagination and the versatility of the medium, to me painting can be meant for so much more than mere depictions of reality. Intuition I think taps into something higher, something more meaningful yet inexplicable.
With this in mind, I would like to make paintings like waking dreams in which logic and decipherable narrative are abandoned, leaving only qualities and spaces for thought and feeling. This non-narrative approach to painting has been a common thread in my work since I began oil painting in the early 1990s.
In light of a recent and liberating technical breakthrough, I envision a far more prolific period ahead in which I can explore with greater freedom the possibilities of paintings that arise from personal visions and concepts that are largely unbounded by analytical thought whilst also embracing oil paint as a magnetic and embodying substance in its own right.
Education
2001 BA Fine Art (First Class), University of Sunderland
Exhibitions & Awards
2004 The Hunting Art Prizes Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London; "R+D", Reg Vardy Gallery, University of Sunderland; Big Art Challenge, Glasgow, Gateshead, Liverpool, Channel 5 Television (final shortlist)
2003 two-person show (Steve Whitehead & Sonny Williams), Pilgrim Gallery, London; The Hunting Art Prizes Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London; Barker & Stonehouse Art Prize, "The Hanging Jury", The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle Upon Tyne / Tyne Tees Television (First Prize)
2002 The People Show, University Gallery, University of Northumbria, Newcastle Upon Tyne; Diesel House Studios Summer Exhibition, London; Sotherby's Shrewsbury Open, Shrewsbury Museum and Gallery; Art in Action, Waterperry Gardens, Oxfordshire; Contemporary Figurative Painting, Fisherton Mill, Salisbury; WO1 - The First Washington Open, Arts Centre Washington (First Prize); Eye Opener (Durham Open), DLI Museum and Art Gallery (First Prize)
2001 "Pure", Glode Gallery, North Shields; "Finalists", Arts Centre Washington; Affordable Art Fair, London
Commissions
2022 - double portrait of private clients' daughter & son
2020 - portrait of private client's daughter
2019 - large-scale portrait of private client's son
2010 - double portrait of private clients' daughter & son