By Katherine Hatcher | Staff Writer
The opening wall in the exhibit was otherworldly yet familiar.
Other walls were filled with intricately detailed pictures of figures and drawings telling different perspectives of the same story. Their bodies and faces were strongly defined yet distorted, while in contrast with the large, solid black figures framing the scene.
This new world was brought to life by contemporary artist William Downs in his new “Truth In Body” exhibit in the Martin Museum of Art, which opened on Sept. 17.
Downs is an artist from Atlanta, Ga., who is known for his drawings, paintings, printmaking and installations. Downs’s forte is his unique perspective lines, which set him apart from other artists. According to his biography on the website for the Martin Museum of Art, he approaches this fundamental art element with infinite possibilities.
This encapsulates Downs’ entire mentality — not only with line work, but with the way he continues to push boundaries in his approaches to stories and meaning-making in his art, starting with the subjects he portrays. Downs said he often draws his characters using a diverse group for inspiration, such as yogis, athletes or Olympians. However, looks to neither the winners nor the losers in particular.
“It’s like the people in the middle sometimes,” Downs said. “They have the hardest times because they’re working just as hard, and you don’t even remember them at all.”
Some recurring physical elements in his paintings are thorns, phones, a solid black figure, distorted faces and reaching hands.
In order to create these themes and characters, Downs also pulls inspiration from another media form — music. The artist will actually make a playlist to motivate him before he begins, starting with melancholy music and ending with a quicker tempo based on what kind of piece he is working on.
“To me, the songwriters that tell stories are the people that help me keep my head as I’m drawing so that my stories can kind of come out,” Downs said.
Additionally, Downs breaks the mold with how the method by which he creates his art and the physical tools that he uses. With a large white space or canvas, like the main piece he created for the Martin Museum of Art, Downs uses a graphite line to create a horizon line to be able to move forward.
“That’s my way of breaking in the wall,” Downs said. “I’m not intimidated anymore, and then I start with the main event.”
According to the Martin Museum of Art’s Education Coordinator Elisa Crowder, Downs does not limit himself in his tools. She said he uses brushes, sponges and sticks to get a different kinds of ink marks.
Crowder said that in talking with the artist, he admitted to struggling with the vibrant colors he was using. So, Crowder said Downs approached his father for advice. His father told him it was easy and to make it black and white, and Downs said he never looked back.
“I thought if I’m gonna change, I wanna do something that’s really going to be a challenging tool, and it’s been the greatest thing ever because it’s balanced my life,” Downs said.
Downs was very close with his father, who was a marine and emphasized how it was important to always keep moving forward in life. Downs applies this to many aspects of his life, even when he messes up in his art. If there’s a drip in the wrong place, Downs said he has fun with it and doesn’t let it hinder him.
From transforming his studio to creating transformative art, Downs pushes boundaries with how he engages his audience even after the first glance of his work, said Monica Litton, a gallery attendant at the Martin Museum.
“I would say that every time you look at his work, you see something new in it, so you won’t even have to end the conversation,” Litton said.
Downs said that every one of the parts of his work are different chapters in a never-ending story for people to interact with, a way moving forward just like his dad wanted. His latest chapter at the Martin Museum of Art is no different.
The “Truth in Body” exhibit will be on display in Martin Museum until Dec. 22.
