Born and raised in Akron, Ohio, I currently live in Columbus, Ohio, where I work as an artist, graphic designer and college art instructor.
I graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2003, where I studied Illustration, Fine Art and Art History, and where I now teach figure drawing. I've also taken graduate-level courses studying art crime. I have given several classes and lectures on the subject.
My artwork has been exhibited in galleries all around Ohio, across the United States and in the United Kingdom, including Baton Rouge Gallery, La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, Arch Enemy Arts Gallery in Philadelphia, and StolenSpace Gallery in London, U.K. My drawings have also been published in books and magazines in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Spain, Austria and Germany. One of my favorite illustration projects, Dodos auf der Flucht (Dodos on the Run), is a collection of German-language poetry written by Berlin-based poet Mikael Vogel about extinct and endangered animals. My first museum solo show, Ministers of the Kingdom, was exhibited at the Canton Museum of Art in 2018.
In addition to my gallery art and illustration work, I am the creator of the webcomic Orick & Argyle, about a Sasquatch and an extraterrestrial who commit acts of civil disobedience in defense of nature.
I live with two cats named Jasper and Mugsy. They have a knack for finding weird things in my basement that I've never seen before.
Artist Statement
I start my figurative graphite drawings by imagining encounters between civilization and nature and exploring those encounters using surreal but referential imagery. Civilization in my drawings is represented by human figures, man-made structures or the objects of daily domestic life. The figures in my drawings are almost never portraits; they are representations of humanity, avatars acting out humanity's mythological interpretation of nature, or personifications of natural processes such as mountain-forming or the brief shimmer of a gem.
I find this relationship between civilization and nature provokes a wealth of ideas for me to explore in my work. Sometimes I focus on humanity's destruction of the environment. In other drawings I choose to visually represent nature's longevity in comparison to our brief tenure on the planet, or show how the veneer of civilization and technological advancement has obscured humanity's primitive origins, but we are nevertheless always and will be forever fundamentally connected to nature.
I love the tactile experience of working with graphite and charcoal powder on paper, and I prefer the immediacy of the graphite medium as opposed to mixing paint colors. I work from photo references but I don't make preliminary sketches; I enjoy starting with a blank sheet of paper and building the drawing's composition spontaneously.
I'm inspired by the works of the Surrealist painters, especially Leonor Fini and Remedios Varo, and by the dreamlike Pictorialist photographs by the early 20th-Century photographers of the Photo Secession.
Dodos auf der Flucht poetry book illustrations \ 03.2018
I had the honor of illustrating a book of poetry written by German poet Mikael Vogel. It was a dream project; he and I both are passionate about animals.
Dodos auf der Flucht (Dodos on the Run), a collection of poems about extinct and endangered animals, is available here.
Extinct Birds postcard collaboration \ 09.2014
Before I was commissioned to illustrate Mikael's poetry book, he and I collaborated on a postcard project. He wrote poems about several of the extinct birds in my drawing series and then created postcards which he then distributed in cafés and coffee shops around Berlin.
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Teaching Experience
I've taught college-level art classes at my alma mater, CCAD, since 2008. Some of the courses I have taught include:
- Figure Drawing
- Intro to Design and Color
- Digital Design and Typography
- Design and Visual Culture
- Art Crime: Heists and Forgeries
Honors Seminars:
- Art at Risk: The Illegal Antiquities Trade
- Defeating the Ideal: Art & Propaganda
Solo Shows
2021: Children of Melusine, S.Dot Gallery, Columbus, Ohio.
2020: Drawings, Bexley Public Library, Bexley, Ohio.
2018: Ministers of the Kingdom, Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio.
Magic Realism, at the German Village Society, Columbus, Ohio.
2014: Drawings, Bexley Public Library, Bexley, Ohio.
2013: Explorers, Explorers Club Restaurant, Columbus, Ohio.
2008: I Could Swear I Saw a Light, Ohio Art League Gallery, Columbus, Ohio.
2007: Drawings, in a business space in the Short North gallery district, Columbus, Ohio.
2003: Oneiric, Senior Thesis Exhibition, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio.
Group Shows
2024: Skull Huggery, StolenSpace Gallery, London, UK. Curated by Eva Maria.
2024: Spotlight Showcase, Arch Enemy Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Curated by Lawren Alice.
2023: Hypnagogia, a 4-person show at 934 Gallery, Columbus, Ohio. Curated by Liz Martin.
2022: Creative Spirits, Don Drumm Studios, Akron, Ohio. Curated by Toni Billick.
Surreal Salon 14, Baton Rouge Gallery, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Curated by Carrie Ann Baade.
2021: Carbon Bonds, a 2-person show with Katy Paull, at Blockfort Studios, Columbus, Ohio.
2019: Canned Heat, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
2019: Laluzapalooza: 33rd Annual Group Show, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
2018: Columbus Open Studio and Stage Tour.
2017: Hit the Hop, Studios on High Gallery, Columbus, Ohio.
2016: Columbus Open Studio and Stage Tour.
Monsters in America, One Mile Gallery, Kingston, New York.
The Renegade Craft Fair, in the Prime 8 Art League booth, Chicago, Illinois.
2015: The Creature Show, Don Drumm Studios, Akron, Ohio.
The Renegade Craft Fair, in the Prime 8 Art League booth, Chicago, Illinois.
2014: 3rd Annual Prime 8 Art League Event, the Chop Shop, Chicago, Illinois.
Happy Together: A Wedding Exhibition, at the Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, Ohio.
Impact-Influence, a CCAD CE faculty exhibition at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, Ohio.
2013: RAW Cincinnati presents: Elevation, at Bogart's, Cincinnati, Ohio.
2012: Art for Life Auction for the AIDS Resource Center Ohio, hosted by the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio.
From A Different Flock, Ohio Art League Gallery, Columbus, Ohio.
2009: New Narratives: Paintings by Ohio Artists, Ohio Arts Council Riffe Gallery, Columbus, Ohio. Curated by Dominique H. Vasseur, European Curator at the Columbus Museum of Art.
2006: Brian Williams & Paul Richmond: Recent Works, Worthington Municipal Building, Worthington, Ohio.
Participated in staff art exhibition, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio.
2005: Emerging Artists: A Collection, Legend Gallery, Zanesville, Ohio.
2004: The Dreaming: Works by Katy Schepers and Brian Williams, in a business space in the Short North gallery district, Columbus, Ohio.
The Ohio Art League Fall Juried Exhibition, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio.
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Freelance illustration work
I'm represented by Illozoo, the illustration agency. For editorial, advertising & book illustration projects, contact Illozoo at www.illozoo.com.
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