William Downs

William Downs is a contemporary artist who studies the intersections between drawing, painting, installation, and printmaking.

Born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, William lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. He studied at the Atlanta College of Art and Design where he received his BFA in Painting and Printmaking in 1996. He received his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 2003. He is currently being represented by the Sandler Hudson Gallery in Atlanta. William taught Foundation Drawing at the Maryland Institute College of Art from 2002 through 2010. He taught Advanced Drawing at Parsons The New School for Design, Foundation Drawing at The Cooper Union and Tulane University. His last role as a professor was held at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, teaching various drawing, life drawing, and studio courses.

Downs has shown in a sundry of group and solo exhibitions in the United States and abroad including the Nexus Biennial at the Nexus Contemporary Art Center in Atlanta, GA, and the Century Gallery in London, England. Downs’ work was featured in the Art AIDS America exhibition which toured nationally for a year headed by Rock Hushka and Johnathan Katz. His work was chosen for the prolific Black Pulp! exhibition piloted by the International Print Center New York. The exhibit showed at The Contemporary Art Museum at the University of South Florida as well as the African-American Museum in Philadelphia.

William’s piece Printed by the artist is in the IPCNY’s permanent collection. As part of a special three-minute show, William created sometimes it hurts alongside Basquiat and Samford Biggers at the St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum. He also has a permanent piece at the Birmingham Museum of Art’s Gallery Third Space. Additionally, William has been commissioned to create a mural for the co-workspace, Study, where he hopes to incorporate his figures in a working cityscape inspired by Diego Rivera’s Murals of Workers. William’s most recent shows featured painted figure wallscapes which held temporary residency until the show’s end. GrizzlyGrizzly in Philadelphia showed standing on the verge of…, and E.C. Lina of Los Angeles showed a soft place to land. The images were then covered in primer and paint, metaphysically but not visibly permanent. William was honored to be one of Artadia’s 2018 award recipients which granted him the ability to continue showing throughout the country.


Selected solo exhibitions
  • 2019 a soft place to land, E.C. Lina Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2019 standing on the verge of..., GrizzlyGrizzly, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2018 Inhuman, Sandler Hudson Gallery, Atlanta, GA
  • 2018 sometimes it hurts, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
  • 2016 aimless revery, The Fuel and Lumber Company, Birmingham, AL, Slag Gallery, NY
  • 2011 at ease, Parker Jones Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2009 a world I never made, Slag Gallery, New York, NY
  • 2008 fly away fly away, Artspace, New Haven, CT
  • 2003 Drawings, Tevis County Gallery, Westminster, MD
  • 2002 Drawings 2001–2002, Mission Space, Baltimore, MD
  • 1999 Broken Ladders, Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, La Grange, GA
  • 1998 Drawings, ASIS Alternative Space, Atlanta, GA
  • 1998 Hands and Feet, Gallery 307, Decatur, GA
  • 1997 Broken Ladders, Georgia South Western University, Fine Arts Center Gallery LaGrange, GA
  • 1994 Etchings and Monoprints, The Equitable Building, Atlanta, GA
  • 1993 Etchings, Yin and Yang Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Selected group exhibitions
  • 2018 Till the Lights Go Out, Hathaway Contemporary Gallery, Atlanta, GA
  • 2018 Private Eyes, Mountain, Brooklyn, NY
  • 2018 Figure Forward, The Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA
  • 2018 Black Pulp!, The African American Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2018 Draw it OUT! Meyerhoff Gallery at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
  • 2018 GSU Welch School of Art and Design Faculty Triennial, Georgia State University Welch Gallery, Atlanta, GA
  • 2018 Shifting Conversation About Contemporary Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
  • 2017 The Reroute, Day & Night Projects at Tempus Projects, Tampa, FL
  • 2017 Upstream part II, The Lyndon House Arts Center, Athens, GA
  • 2017 Summer Thunder, Sandler Hudson Gallery, Atlanta, GA
  • 2017 Back Pulp!, Ezra and Cecile Gallery at Wesleyan University, Middleton, CT
  • 2017 Published by the Artist,International Print Center

Exhibition, New York, NY

  • 2016 Art Aids America, The Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA
  • 2016 Black Pulp, Curated by Will Villalongo and Mark Thomas Gibson, Yale University, Edgewood Gallery, New Haven CT
  • 2016 Moleskine Mailer Collaboration, Tempus Projects, Tampa, FL
  • 2015 Monster Drawing Rally, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
  • 2015 Sprawl! Drawing Outside the Lines, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
  • 2015 Drawing Experiment, Chastain Arts Center, Atlanta, GA
  • 2015 Summer Salon, Sandler Hudson Gallery, Atlanta, GA
  • 2015 Careless Whiskers, Curated by Joy Phrasavath, Beep Beep Gallery, Atlanta, GA
  • 2015 "Bewareness", Tempus Projects, Tampa, FL
  • 2014 NEXUS, SEXUS, PLEXUS, Dashboard Co-op, Atlanta, GA
  • 2014 Kaleidoscope Eyes, MacDonough Gallery, Albertus Magus College, New Haven, CT
  • 2013 On Paper, curated by Ayana Moore, Fieldwork Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 2013 Precious, Porthole Gallery, London, UK
  • 2012 Everything All at Once, Antenna Gallery, New Orleans, LA
  • 2011 Crossing Lines, a dual exhibition with Brooke Pickett, The Front, New Orleans, LA
  • 2011 PICK TWO, curated by Timothy Young, Artspace, New Haven, CT
  • 2010 Painting Comes Alive, ARTJAIL Gallery, New York, NY
  • 2009 Another Shade of Grey, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY
  • 2009 Wakaime Art Studio Exhibition, Anjo, Aichi, Japan
  • 2009 State of Consciousness, curated by Damien Montalieu, Collective Gallery, New York, NY
  • 2008 Transformer, curated by Derrick Adams, The Gateway Gallery, Baltimore, MD
  • 2008 Inseparability, Five Ten Studio, Oakland, CA
  • 2008 Untitled (On Paper), Moti Hasson Gallery, New York, NY[1]
  • 2007 Reparations, curated by Keith Miller, Stony Brook University, SAC Gallery, Stony Brook, NY
  • 2007 If It Ain’t Broke, Gallery 138 (in conjunction with Stony Brook University), New York, NY[2]
  • 2006 Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day, curated by Shinique Smith, The Proposition, New York, NY[3]

Commissions
  • Fiber Webb Company, Fountain, SC
  • Bob Carrington, Realtor, Atlanta, GA
  • Sonia David Web Design Company, Atlanta, GA

Selected teaching
  • Anderson Ranch, workshop and Artist Residency (Summer-2019)
  • Georgia State University, Drawing & Painting (2012-2019)
  • Tulane University, Drawing I & II (2011-2012)
  • The Cooper Union School of Art, Foundation Drawing I & II (2010-2011)
  • Parsons The New School for Design, Drawing III (2010-2011)
  • Maryland Institute College of Art, Foundation Drawing I & II (2003–2010)
  • NAACP ACT-SO, drawing juror (2005–2010)
  • School 33, Drawing and Painting, Baltimore, MD (2002)
  • Atlanta College of Art, Foundation Drawing I & II (1998–1999)
  • Continuing Studies, Atlanta College of Art, “ How to See Drawing” (1999)

Residencies
  • 2019, Hillsboro Community College Drawing Workshop, Tampa, FL
  • 2018, Hambidge Art Residency, Atlanta, GA
  • 2017, Takoja Residency & Retreat Center Life Drawing Workshop, Questa, NM
  • 2014, Carnegie Mellon Drawing Symposium Mixed Media, Pittsburgh, PA

Selected publications
  • Cotter, Christina. "Exquisite Corpses Abound in William Downs & Brooke Pickett's Collaboration," ArtsAtl, April 27, 2012
  • Holte, Michael Ned. "'ACP': Parker Jones," Artforum, March, 2011
  • Bowers, Jessica. “17th National Drawing and Print Competitive Exhibition,” Baltimore City Paper, April 12, 2006
  • Tanguy, Sarah. "Baltimore 'Model Home' Artscape," Sculpture Magazine, Vol. 23 No. 6, July/August 2004
  • Bowers, Jessica. “Drawing No Conclusions,” Baltimore City Paper, August 6, 2003

Art projects in magazines/journals
  • Art/Aids/America Chicago, 2017
  • Black Pulp! Yale School of the Art, 2016
  • Friends of Friends for Friends, July 2005
  • Link, 2004
  • Baltimore Magazine, Summer 2004
  • Chela Magazine, Summer 2004
  • Peek review, 2001–02
  • Animal Stories Magazine, Drawings, 1998
  • Freeform, cover, May 1996
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References
  1. Moti Hasson Gallery, Untitled (On Paper)
  2. Gallery 138 If It Ain't Broke
  3. The Proposition, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day
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