Malicious Resplendence: The Paintings of Robert Williams

THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION OF PAINTINGS BY OUTSIDER ICON ROBT. WILLIAMS Simply put, this is the coffee-table collection of the paintings of Robert Williams, one of the most lauded and controversial American painters of the 20th Century. Williams sprang from the hot rod culture of Southern California and the roots of underground comix, ultimately transcending both by cultivating a mastery of oil paints and forging a career as the preeminent artist among a generation of painters gathering inspiration from the shadowed corners of contemporary culture. Williams singlehandedly became the model of the "Outsider" art movement, influencing a generation of artists to create without concern for the fine art world, which Williams held in contempt (a feeling reciprocated in kind for years until recently, with Williams's past two shows at Tony Shafrazl's New York gallery selling out before opening night. Originally released in 1997 and now back in print, Malicious Resplendence features over 200 fullcolor paintings spanning Williams' life and career, reproduced with breathtaking clarity (no small feat with Williams' hyper-kinetic visions). Along with a comprehensive and carefully compiled retrospective of Williams' body of work, the book also features extensive biographical information by critic C.R. Stecyk, an introduction by noted curator Walter Hopps, and dozens of rare and never-before-seen photos of the artist and related ephemera.

This infamous artist's paintings get the lush treatment they deserve in this career-spanning collection. Williams' transcendent work integrates his formative underground influences with a mastery of fine art techniques.

A career-spanning collection of the infamous lowbrow master. Williams sprang from the custom car culture of Southern California and the roots of the Underground Comix movement (Williams, of course, was one of the founding ZAP artists, along with R. Crumb), ultimately transcending the constraints of both by cultivating his mastery of oil paints and forging a career as the preeminent artist among a generation of imagist painters gathering inspiration from the shadowed corners of contemporary culture. Williams singlehandedly became the model of the "Outsider" art movement, influencing a generation of artists to create without concern for the fine art world, held in contempt by Williams. It's a feeling which had been reciprocated in kind for years by the established fine art community, although Williams' sheer mastery of his craft has caused a grudging retreat.

Robert Williams' influence on alternative art is immeasurable. From his endeavors to broaden the possibilities for young artists to gain exposure sprang the well known art chronicle, Juxtapoz magazine. His books include Conceptual Realism and Hysteria in Remission. He lives in Los Angeles, CA, with his wife, Suzanne.