Tuesday, June 9, 2020

William Norton: Of This Time and Timeless


Pistol Packing Little Boy
26” x 27” x 7”
Hand Etched and Formed Plexiglass with Acrylic Paint, Shadows and Reflections 
2019 


Willian Norton's area of concern has long been the protest, the outcry for better and just treatment, the demand for equality and compassion, and the brutal, monstrous response of those in power, to that demand.
The world needs voices like Norton's that are able to poetically and at times beautifully distill and present the profound sufferings of a citizenry and force an often indifferent, affluent, and predominantly white public to look at itself and question how close we are living to our professed values. 
To paraphrase, the painter,  Francis Bacon, Norton creates very close to the nerve and in doing so comes very close to our nerve.
 Norton's current body of work is topical but it's also much more. It eloquently voices, perhaps the dominating and eternally ingrained characteristic of the human experience, the movement towards right and equality. It of this time, yes, but also timeless.


 Divine Wind
102” x 21.5” x 3.5”
Hand Etched Plexiglass with Shadows and Reflections 
2018-2019

 (Detail from Divine Wind)


William Norton and the Hei Hei dog in front of an installation by Etty Yaniv, 2019
photo: Jim Friedlich 


 Movable Cops
132” x 154” x 12”
Hand Etched Plexiglass on Movable Rack System, Aluminum, Mirrored Plexiglass, Wood, Paper, Charcoal on Cardboard, Clock Pendulum, Umbrella, Yellow Raincoat, MDF
2019-2020


 Movable Cops
(Detail)

 Corrections
Charcoal on 100% Rag Paper with Corrections Department Riot Shield
62” x 30” x 6”
2019


 Cops in Full Tactical 
96” x 96”
Charcoal on 100% Rag Paper 
2019
(this drawing is the one used to carve “Movable Cops”)


 2 Cops From The Occupying State 
Charcoal on Cardboard 
96” x 96”
2019

 
 Cop Hiding Inside His Helmet 
Charcoal on 100% Rag Paper 
96” x 96”
2019


From the Artist's Statement:

My art investigates what it means to become a man, especially in response to being confronted with my inability to protect my son, who was kidnapped in 1990.
The dark forces behind what is considered to be “manhood’s rite of passage” was also instilled in me by a military upbringing and that rite’s travesty and horror as it is perpertrated daily throughout the world by our autocratic governments and police forces.
Since March 2019 and the beginning of the protests for Democracy in Hong Kong the violence of the governmental police response has been overwhelmingly brutal. Students have been tortured, murdered, raped and disappeared without any repercussions for their abusers.
The Umbrella and Yellow Raincoat have become powerful symbols for this movement and tools of passive resistance. The umbrellas are essential for deflecting the tear gas canisters and pepper spray used by police and the Yellow Raincoat is a stiring reminder of one that was worn by a young protestor who was thrown to his death from the upper levels of a parking garage.
Add to this our current regime putting children in cages at our southern border, separating them permanently from their families or leaving them to die of disease and neglect and it becomes clear that our American “manhood, coming of age rituals” involve too many poseurs with guns and power untempered by morals or ethics.
Our American “manhood coming of age rituals” involve too many poseurs with guns, power and no morals or ethics.

William Norton is an artist and curator living and working in Bushwick, Brooklyn. His work has been exhibited in the New York City area, Europe and in Japan where he was slated to curate six artists into the upcoming Kameyama Triennial when the pandemic struck and all travel was curtailed.


 Occupying Forces
96” x 96”
Charcoal on Cardboard 
2019


 Cop Helmets 
96” x 96”
Charcoal on Cardboard 
2019


 Cop in Full Battle Gear with Baton 
97” x 48”
Charcoal on MDF and Plywood with Pine Mending Plates
2020
(Studio shot)


Cop
72" x 48"
Charcoal, pastels on scavenged plywood with existing spray paint
2020

Raft of the Medusa: Kids in Cages
60” 91”x1.5”
Charcoal, Pastels, Oil Stick, Tin Foil on 100% Rag Paper mounted and Framed in Artist Made & Painted Frame
2020


Bomb Site:20/20
36”x36”x6.5”
Charcoal on 100%rag paper, Fluorescent Light, Wood, Paint, Blue Plexiglass 
2020
Floor Piece

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