***INTERVIEW WITH HOLLY WILLIAMS

Being daughter to an established animator, how did this influence your decision to become an artist?

I was only around animation during my early childhood, but the idea that one could be an artist, that this was a viable option, was impressed upon me. My father and I used to draw together; this was an everyday activity in our home, and seemed extremely important. I never even considered going into animation, or even really expressed an interest in animated films, but hanging around the background painters in his studio may have sparked an interest in painted landscape early on. The decision was not whether to become an artist, but rather what type of artist to be. Painting was inevitable.

How did animation influence your style, technique, or approach to drawing and painting?

I do occasionally look at animation backgrounds as reference for a sort of stylization of the landscape, but beyond that it doesn’t really affect my approach to my work. I suppose that growing up around that genre set a very high standard for drawing, especially the figure. My current work has virtually nothing to do with animation, but it may creep in subconsciously….

Talk about the series of paintings that you have been working on recently.

The new paintings question modes of representation in painting and photography. I suppose the paintings are a new sort of photorealism, one that talks more about optics than reality. I am interested in the difference between the photographic image and the painted image, and hope that hybridizing the two will reveal the trappings of these mediums, and that a third thing will happen. My photography strives to function as painting, and my paintings look photographic. I’m interested in the difference. It makes you question how you look at photography, how you look at abstraction, and makes you reconsider representation.

You have been traveling, and working on murals. Talk about your role in the production off the murals, and how it affects your own work.

The murals are collaborative; done in teams of really great painters, who each have their own stylistic differences. The loss of autonomy that happens is wonderful as a balance to my private practice, which is extremely controlled and isolated. Collaborating is a great way to keep my skills up, the competition motivates me and humbles me simultaneously. When I come back to the studio, my view is expanded, and I can look at my work with a new perspective.

What are the biggest pressures that you face as an artist and how do you deal with them?

Self-discipline! That’s a hard one. When you’re given the freedom to make your own schedule, it’s easy to fall behind. When people began expressing an interest in buying my work, I felt extremely tied down; they all want their paintings to look the same- it’s easy to be pigeonholed as a certain type of painter and then you lose the opportunity to grow and change.

What are the best and worst things about being an artist?

Sometimes there isn’t any money. But other than that, it’s the best way to be. My concept of work is very different from most people. I make all the decisions, set my own schedule, make my own rules. As a painter, I feel directly connected with my product. This is very little technology between me and the piece. It’s very analog, something that’s pretty rare these days. And while I’m working, I feel a sense of purpose, like I’m on a mission. The best thing is, the journey never ends. I wouldn’t have it any other way.