British artist Lucy Williams redefines the concept of collage through her intricate mixed media bas-reliefs depicting deserted scenes of mid 20th century Modernist architecture. Her works are a fine balance: structurally and in the tension between the precision and masculinity of the stark utopian architecture that is re-invested with humanity through the painstaking and traditionally feminine domain of craft. Ultimately, Williams’s primary interest lies in the interplay of representation that the Modernist source material so lends itself to in descriptions of geometric and modular blocks of material and colour.
Lucy Williams studied at Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Academy in London. She lives and works in London.
Lucy Williams has exhibited internationally with solo shows including Beneath a Woollen Sky and Pavilion, both at Timothy Taylor Gallery, London (2007 and 2012 respectively), Festival at McKee Gallery, New York (2014), and most recently with Pools at Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (2017). Group shows have included Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut (2008), After curated by Marjolaine Levy at Galerie Mitterand, Paris (2013), Major Contemporary Works at Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (2019) and Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2019).
Lucy Williams is represented by Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco.
Selected solo exhibitions
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Lucy Williams: Radiant City, Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
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Lucy Williams: MOSAIC, Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
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Lucy Williams: Pools, Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
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Festival, McKee Gallery, New York, USA
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Pavilion, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
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Glass Houses, McKee Gallery, New York, USA
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Beneath a Woollen Sky, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
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The Day the Earth Stood Still, McKee Gallery, New York, USA
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Stranger than Paradise, McKee Gallery, New York, USA
Selected group exhibitions
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Architecture in Art, Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
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Paper, Tristan Hoare Gallery, London, UK
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Dwelling in the Light, curated by Katy Hessel of Great Women Artists, Timothy Taylor, London, UK
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Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, UK
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Modern Contemporary Works, Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
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140 Unlimited, Recent acquisitions in honour of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum's 140th Anniversary, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
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Group Show, Berggruen@Minnesota Street, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, USA
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Fall Group Show, McKee Gallery, New York, USA
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AFTER, Galerie Mitterand, Paris, France
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Building Blocks: Contemporary Works from the Collection, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
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Made in the UK: Contemporary Art from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
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Point of Entry: The Space Between Art and Architecture, Savannah College of Art and Design Museum, Savannah, USA (travelled to Galerie Pfriem, Lacoste, France in 2010)
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Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut, with the Yale School of Architecture, Princeton, New Jersey, USA* (travelled to Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, California, USA in 2009)
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Out of Line: Drawings from the Collection of Sherry and Joel Mallin, Herbert F. Johnson Art Museum, Cornell University, New York, USA
Selected articles and publications
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Matt Price (ed.) Salena Barry; Joseph Becker; Kathryn Lloyd; Charlotte Mullins and Ben Street Radiant City, Hurtwood.
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Patrick Elliott; Dr Freya Growrley and Yuval Etgar Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage (exhibition catalogue), National Galleries of Scotland, Edinbugh.
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Laura McLean-Ferris and Sally O'Reilly Lucy Williams, ROADS, Dublin
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Sally O’Reilly, Lucy Williams: Festival (exhibition catalogue), McKee Gallery, New York
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Molly Molloy and Gianni Tozzi (eds.) Lucy Williams: The solitude of the afterhours, Parterre de Rois, Issue #02/Absent (March 2014), editpress, Milan
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Emma Dexter and Alex Coles, Lucy Williams: Pavilion (exhibition catalogue), Timothy Taylor Gallery, London
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Hossein Amirsadeghi (ed.) Sanctuary: British Artists and their studios, Thames & Hudson, London
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Marjolaine Lévy, Lucy Williams: Les reliefs du Modernisme, 20/27: Revue de Textes Critiques sur l’Art, no.6 M19, Paris
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Lucy Williams: Glass Houses (exhibition catalogue), McKee Gallery, New York
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Ramírez-Montagut, Mónica, Painting the Glass House (exhibition catalogue), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield CT
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Blanche Craig (ed.) Collage: Assembling Contemporary Art, Black Dog Publishing Limited, London
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Bose, Shumi, Exhibition: Lucy Williams-Timothy Taylor Gallery, Blueprint Magazine (Nov 2007), London
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Lucy Williams: The Day the Earth Stood Still (exhibition catalogue), McKee Gallery, New York
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Green, Nancy E, Out of Line: Drawings from the Collection of Sherry and Joel Mallin (exhibition catalogue) Cornell University Press, New York
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Vincent, Steven, Lucy Williams at Mckee, Art in America (Mar 2005), New York
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Gilbert-Rolfe, Jeremy, Lucy Williams: Stranger than Paradise (exhibition catalogue), McKee Gallery, New York
Download full CV here
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© Lucy Williams, McKee Gallery and Berggruen Gallery