Elzie Williams III
Bio: Elzie Williams III is a Baltimore born, New York based artist working in sculpture, and collage. His work exposes racial and social issues that effect the world globally using collage. In 2015, Williams received his BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art, and is currently completing his MFA at Columbia University. He has exhibited in galleries in New York, Montgomery College (MD) and has shown public sculpture funded by Baltimore City.
elziewilliams.net
Instagram: @elzie.williams
Thesis Exhibition
Artist Statement: Elzie Williams is an interdisciplinary artist who makes work in collage and sculpture centered around racial and social issues. He manipulates magazine spreads as a way to critique consumerism, waste and the dying medium of printed matter. He thoughtfully selects images that provoke the viewer to question consumerism in fact as a colorless concept. He digests this content compulsively, but in a systematic way, flipping through thousands of pages to fulfill a specific need. There might be a page that has one side depicting an image of a face with the opposite side having only one specific color. The fragility of the magazine textures allows for each swatch to have light to illuminate through. The bulk of his magazine material is collected from the streets of New York, as well as many Craigslist's interactions. His wish is to bury the overt racial narrative of specific images by literally framing them with samples of the very source of racial confusion, and to expose the underlying racism built into the images consumed and absorbed, without question, every day.
L to R: Gargoyle (64" x 21" x 23", compressed magazines, spray foam, spray paint, acrylic concrete, 2022); Bystander (Dimensions variable, collage of white swatches with white faces on reverse, light, metal pins, tape, bucket, aluminum, concrete, 2022); Exclamation (Dimensions variable, collage of white swatches with white faces on reverse, light, tape, bucket, aluminum, cinderblock, 2022); Brilliant disguise (84" x 18" x 18", collage of black swatches with white faces on reverse, black light, metal pins, tape, bucket, aluminum, concrete, 2022); Rubberband Man (Dimensions variable, compressed magazines, rubber band, spray paint, stickers, acrylic, matches, 2022)
First Year Exhibition
L to R: Everything Is Shelter (44”x48”, magazines, clear tape, copper, 2021); Love Is Not Phony (22”x 32”, magazines, clear tape, copper, 2021).
