Mark Williams

Like many artists, Mark Williams developed some of his most useful techniques by accident. And many of the pieces in his Houston debut at Wade Wilson Art feature one of his favorite accidents: many layers of different colored paint. In previous work, Williams found that if he didn’t use enough paint, the color underneath would bleed through. “I have to say that it caught my eye, and I found that my eye liked it,” he says. Although at first glance it may appear that he quit painting too soon, the viewer is meant to see the layers beneath the surface. “It allows for the viewer to see how the painting has been developed,” Williams says. “It’s a bit of archaeology, perhaps that you can see earlier states or stages, colors that had happened before.” He adds that layering the paint also affects colors, such as Choice, in which red and black squares and lines overlap each other. From afar, it looks as though Williams has used two different shades of red, but on closer inspection you notice he has just painted some of the red over black.
Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Sept. 7. Continues through Oct. 6, 2007