Artospective: Figurative Paintings by Robert Dale Williams from United States.

Deep, oil on canvas, 2016.

An Interview with Robert Dale Williams.

Who and from where are you?

I’m Robert Dale Williams, a figurative painter from Reading, Pennsylvania, a small industrial city in the United States. I studied painting at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, completed a MFA degree at the New York Academy of Art Graduate School of Figurative Art, then studied for parts of three summers in Norway with Odd Nerdrum.

How you got into this?

As a child, I loved stories and storytelling. I got this from my father, who read to me frequently. My interest in the stories, and fantasy worlds, drove me to try to create my own stories. This brought me to drawing and illustration – I aspired to be an illustrator as I completed high school. Shortly after that, I realized that I wanted to push my ability, and the kind of stories I could tell, in another medium, and that brought me to oil painting. I was fascinated by the stories and the epic scale that the Old Masters conveyed in their work. I was especially interested in Michelangelo and Rembrandt, but my understanding of great painters expanded as I attended the University, the Academy, and certainly during my stay at the Nerdrum School.

What is your driving force and What kind of work you do?

My emotions are my driving force, which can be problematic. The reason it is problematic is emotions create reactions in us all – strong emotions tend to produce strong actions. The challenge is to channel that energy and emotion… to harness it properly so that it can be drawn from in a productive way in a painting or drawing.

There is no shortage of world events that could inspire a painter, especially in the current political climate. In the past, I would’ve lashed out against the rise of hate and ignorance we’ve seen around the world in the form of paintings or drawings. Not to say I have no plans to do so, but I’ve found myself instead taking a step back and trying to simply portray and evoke beauty in my work. I think, especially in times like these, that remembering that life is precious is terribly important.