Untitled

The work of artist Aubrey Williams displays a range of visual influences and cultural perspectives; from classical music and pre-Columbian iconography, to science fiction and ecology. Williams also drew inspiration from the stories and symbols of the indigenous peoples of Guyana although his artistic practice defies simple classification as either ‘Caribbean’ or ‘British’.

From 1959 Williams increasingly turned to abstraction in his work. This untitled pen ink and wash painting of around 1964 suggests both the influence of the abstract expressionists (whose work Williams had seen in the 1956 Modern Art in the USA exhibition at the Tate Gallery) and the calligraphic forms of pre-Columbian art. The painting also reflects the energy and colour which would come to characterise Williams’ work.