Artospective: Oil Portraits by Chaz Williams from Cape Town.

An Interview with Chaz Williams.

Who and where are you from?

My name is Chaz Williams, I am a Cape Town based artist.

What type of artist are you?

I’m not really sure haha. I don’t think I classically fit in anywhere.

How you got into this?

I have always been into art. How I became an active selling professional artist was when I entered a local portrait competition in Cape Town. I did a little sketch of Nelson Mandela and it ended up being sold for a decent price. That was the beginning for me. The sketching was so much fun and the selling of the piece was just the affirmation I needed.

What is your driving force?

My driving force is two-fold. The one side of my art passion is charity. I give 50% of all my auctioned pieces to charity and charity events. As a South African it is very important to give back and to help. I have now raised over half a million Rand for various charities through my art.

The second driving force behind my art is my perception of art. I feel I have something to say in art. I want to create big, bold, beautiful, powerful, emotive work. Work that can really make an impact. Art has the power to do so much and express so much. I want to explore that…

What kind of work you do and why?

My work will always be large and emotive. I predominantly only paint oil portraits. In all my pieces, I have tried to connect with the viewer, in hope that it evokes a sense of emotion. I use pallet knives, brushes, mediums, spray paint etc. Anything that helps me get to where I want the piece to be.