Robert Williams"The Marinated Heart"Graphite and ink on illustration board
art surface 11×8.5″ on 12×9″ sheet
Original art for a 1980s
Valentines themed exhibition poster (possibly Williams’ first fine art exhibition), which was also printed as an advertisement in several Last Gasp/ Fantagraphics comic books. The show was curated by fellow underground artist,
The Pizz (1958 – 2015), sponsored by Playmates, and hosted at Zomo Mobile Gallery. This historic exhibition predates Williams' first show at Zero/One and the subsequent exhibitions at La Luz de Jesus Gallery and Psychedelic Solutions.
It is featured in the book
Malicious Resplendence, published by Fantagraphics in 1997, which bound together for the first time a survey of Williams' comix art, Kustom Kulture illustrations, and his pop surrealism paintings.
The paintings of this acclaimed artist (and infamous lowbrow master) are routinely reaching record breaking prices, with paintings crossing into the half-million dollar mark. His published illustration work is far more rare than his paintings, and this particular piece is historic. Williams sprang from the custom car culture of Southern California and the roots of the Underground Comix movement (Williams, of course, was one of the founding ZAP artists, along with R. Crumb), ultimately transcending the constraints of both by cultivating his mastery of oil paints and forging a career as the preeminent artist among a generation of imagist painters gathering inspiration from the shadowed corners of contemporary culture. Williams singlehandedly became the model of the "Outsider" art movement, influencing a generation of artists to create without concern for the fine art world, held in contempt by Williams.
Robert Williams has been the focus of several traveling museum exhibitions, and is represented by the blue-chip Shafrazi Gallery.
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