Well-known Margaret River artist Chris Williamson returns to ArtGeo with an exhibition of thirty eight new works celebrating life, love and the power of pen and ink.
The engaging exhibition, titled Encore! The Unrepentant Illustrator, confirms Williamson’s reputation as one of WA’s most idiosyncratic illustrators.
Williamson has been illustrating for a ‘lifetime’, with his talent undeniable at an early age.
“I was one of those kids that could always draw,” he told the Mail.
“In primary school, all those years ago, teachers would say ‘we should do something with this one’.
“My parents were directed to a special arts school. Fortunately at that time, which was a million years ago, there was an alternative to secondary education in this specialist art school for kids. They had 500 applicants a year, in a city as big as Perth, and only took on 24 students – 12 boys, and 12 girls. I was pretty fortunate.”
Williamson went on to further his education at art college and had specialised training before becoming a professional illustrator for the likes of Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.
In Encore!, Williamson’s drawings reflect his penchant for old fashioned modes of transport and the language of maps.
They also capture his passion for pantomime and childhood memories.
Williamson said his desire was to represent nostalgia.
“We all know what nostalgia is, some of us have an interest in it as subject, some could not give a monkeys. It is the idea that the things we enjoyed as a child are not around anymore,” he said.
“We live in a world and a country that is very fast-paced, communication for example has changed in my lifetime, I remember a fixed big black old telephone, now I talk on something small and wireless.
“A lot of older people, and I put myself in that category, look back at their childhood with affection because it was different and that way of life is no more, so that is largely what I tried to visualise and achieve in this exhibition.”
Williamson said he hoped the exhibition would be viewed by young and old.
“It is an opportunity to share memories of the past and for younger people to learn more about what life was like for their parents and grandparents,” he said.
“Younger people will be seeing things in the drawings that they may not immediately understand or recognise, if they come to my talk, I’ll be there to demystify it.”
Encore! The Unrepentant Illustrator runs from May 18 to June 24 at ArtGeo Gallery in Busselton.
The official opening will be held on May 18 at 6pm.
The artist talk will be held on June 3 at 2pm.
