Known for their large-scale paintings of stylized, sentient, yet ambiguously generated female figures, Robin F. Williams (b. 1984) meticulously deploys oil, airbrush, poured paint, marbling, and staining to construct deeply textured and complex compositions that transcend an identifiable medium. With a masterful technical understanding and an innate sense of curiosity, Williams fuses imagery from social media channels with references to early modernism, pop culture, advertising, and cinema, to challenge the systemic conventions around representations of women. Williams received their BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and has presented solo exhibitions at P·P·O·W, New York, NY; Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, CA; Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, MA; Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY; and Morán Morán, Mexico City, Mexico. Their work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions nationally and internationally including In New York, Thinking of You (Part I), Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY; I’m Not Your Mother, P·P·O·W, New York, NY; Fire Figure Fantasy, ICA Miami, Miami, FL; Present Generations, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Bitter Nest, Galerie Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan; XENIA: Crossroads in Portrait Painting, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY; Nicolas Party: Pastel, Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY; SEED, curated by Yvonne Force, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY; among others. Their work is currently in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Collection Majudia, Montreal, Canada; the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; X Museum, Beijing, China; among others. Robin F. Williams: We’ve Been Expecting You, Williams’ first solo institutional exhibition, was on view in Summer 2024 at the Columbus Museum of Art. Good Mourning, the artist's fifth solo exhibition with P·P·O·W, is on view until October 26.
Robin F. Williams
b. 1984, Columbus, OH
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Education
2006
B.F.A. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Good Mourning, P·P·O·W, New York, NY (forthcoming)
Undying, Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan
Robin F. Williams: We've Been Expecting You, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
2023
Watch Yourself, Morán Morán, Mexico City, Mexico
2021
Out Lookers, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Final Resting Face, Pace Prints, New York, NY
2019
With Pleasure, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, CA
2017
Your Good Taste is Showing, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2016
Trailing Off, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, MA
2014
Sons of the Pioneers, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2011
Rescue Party, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2009
New Work, Space 414, Brooklyn, NY
2008
After Birth, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY
Select Group Exhibitions
2024
FULL DISCLOSURE: Selections from the Thomas-Suwall Collection, The Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND
Le vernissage, partie un, Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, France
2023
Ravens and Crows, Winter Street Gallery and Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, France
Women on the Verge, curated by Lisa Wainwright, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Pictures Girls Make: Portraitures, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
This American Life, Morán Morán, Los Angeles, CA
In New York, Thinking of You (Part I), Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY, April 1-29,
2022
Even a Cat Can Look at the Queen, Mrs. Gallery, Maspeth, NY
I’m Not Your Mother, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Finger Bang, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
A Few Small Nips, Mrs., Queens, NY
Fire Figure Fantasy: Selections from ICA Miami's Collection, ICA Miami, Miami, FL
2021
Applied Anxiety, Allouche Benias, Athens, Greece
Present Generations: Creating the Scantland Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Bitter Nest, Galerie Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan
2020
Artists for New York, Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY
Fragmented Bodies, Albertz Benda, New York, NY
XENIA: Crossroads in Portrait Painting, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
2019
Post Analog Studio, The Hole, New York, NY
Nicolas Party: Pastel, Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY
2018
SEED, curated by Yvonne Force, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY
PLUS ONE, Project: ARTspace, New York, NY
2017
Post Analog Painting II, The Hole, New York, NY
Separation Anxiety, Project: ARTspace, New York, NY
2016
Et in Arcadia Ego, New Museum Los Gatos, Los Gatos, CA
The Woman Destroyed, curated by Anneliis Beadnell, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Expo Chicago, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2015
The Earth is All I Know of Wonder: Contemporary Responses to Hartley, Driscoll Babcock, New York, NY
2014
Escape from New York! New Garde Now, Gallery Poulsen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sargent’s Daughters, New York, NY
2013
Skin Trade, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2012
100 Little Deaths, BravinLee Programs, New York, NY
Wassaic Project Summer Exhibition, Wassaic Projects, Wassaic, NY
Texas Contemporary, P·P·O·W, Houston, TX
EXPO Chicago, P·P·O·W, Chicago, IL
Seven, P·P·O·W, Miami, FL
RISD Icons, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
2011
Pulse LA Art Fair, P·P·O·W, Los Angeles, CA
Suggestivism, CSUF Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA
Seven, P·P·O·W, Miami, FL
2010
Marked: A Show of Figure, Like the Spice Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
The Antidote, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY
Grand Central Art Center, New York, NY
2009
Vintage Violence, Space 414, Brooklyn, NY
American Dream, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY
Old School, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY
Wassaic Project Summer Exhibition, Wassaic Projects, Wassaic, NY
2008
Scope Miami, Jack the Pelican Presents, Miami, FL
Emerging Artists…at any age, L.A. Art House, Los Angeles, CA
2007
Scope Miami, Jack the Pelican Presents, Miami, FL
Empty Nest: The Changing Face of Childhood in Art, 1880 to the Present, Nathan A. Bernstein & Co. Ltd., New York, NY
Scope Hamptons, Jack the Pelican Presents, Wainscott, NY
Fecal Face 7.5 Anniversary Show, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Fall Season, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY
Winter Faction, Lineage Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2006
$760,000 Show, Senior Exhibition, ISB Gallery, Providence, RI
RISD Senior Showcase, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
RISD Senior Illustration Show, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
2005
RISD Athena Awards, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, New York, NY
Honors and Awards
2019
Artist in Residence, La Napoule Art Foundation, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, France
2018
Visual Artist Fellowship, Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
2012
Josephine Mercy Heathcote Fellow at The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
2011
MacDowell Colony Fellowship, Peterborough, NH
2010
Brooklyn Academy of Music Spring “Playbill Artist,” Brooklyn, NY
Public Collections
Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, West Palm Beach, FL
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
CC Foundation, Shanghai, China
Collection Majudia, Montreal, Canada
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada
X Museum, Beijing, China
Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK
Select Bibliography
2022
Luckraft, Paul, and Elizabeth Neilson, editors. “Robin F. Williams in Conversation with Paul Luckraft.” The Stand-Ins: Figurative Painting from the Zabludowicz Collection, Zabludowicz Collection, London, 2022, pp. 12–23.
Pellerin, Ananda, editor. “Robin F. Williams.” Why I Make Art: Contemporary Artists’ Stories About Life & Work, 1st ed., Atelier Editions, Los Angeles, CA, 2022, pp. 313–324.
Young, Allison K. “Robin F. Williams.” Great Women Painters, Phaidon Press Limited, London, 2022, p. 321.
2021
Stephenson, Sarah, editor. “In Conversation with Louis Fraction, Loie Hollowell, Nicolas Party, Billy Sullivan, Robin F. Williams.” PASTEL: An Exhibition by Nicholas Party, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY, 2021, pp. 124–145.
2020
Goldstein, Caroline. “Studio Visit: Painter Robin F. Williams on Her Newfound Fascination with TikTok and How She Sustains a Sense of Wonder at Work,” Artnet News, September 15, 2020.
Indrisek, Scott. “Robin F. Williams Revels in the Craft of Painting,” Artsy, March 27, 2020.
2019
Maziar, Paul. “Social Criticism, with Pleasure: Robin F. Williams at Various Small Fires,” October 3, 2019.
Liberty, Megan N. “Robin F. Williams: Model Behavior,” Juxtapoz, May 29, 2019.
2018
Langmuir, Molly. “Who’s Afraid of the Female Nude? Paintings of naked women, usually by clothed men, are suddenly sitting very uncomfortably on gallery walls.” The Cut, April 18, 2018.
2017
Smith, Roberta. “What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week” The New York Times, November 1, 2017.
Deters, Alexandria. “In Conversation with Robin F. Williams: Using Provocation and Power in her Female-Focused Paintings” Gallery Girls, October 29, 2017.
2016
Molesky, David. “Robin F. Williams: The Hero Painter” Juxtapoz, July 18, 2016.
Frank, Priscilla. “Today’s Artists Are Sick of History Framing Women as Perfect” The Huffington Post, June 30, 2016.
Kugler, Alec. “Robin Williams’ All-Female ‘70s Inspired Artwork” Coveteur, December 3, 2016.
2014
Friedman, Julia. “Dreaming of Fluorescent Men,” Hyperallergic, March 5, 2014.
Valdez, Aldrin. “A New Sympathetic Masculine Mythology,” Art Slant, March 12, 2014.
”10 Hypnotic Paintings That Challenge Art’s Obsession with the Female Nude,” Huffington Post, February 28, 2014.
2013
“Robin Williams,” Naked but Safe, #3.
2011
Moore, Caitlin. Beautiful Decay, Book 6 The Future Project Issue.
Larkin, Corina. “Robin Williams, Rescue Party,” The Brooklyn Rail, March 4, 2011.
Heinrich, Will. “The Painting Looks at Us: Robin Williams’ First Solo Show”, The New York Observer Feb 1, 2011.
Sutton, Benjamin. “Creepy Toys and Awkward Kids”, The L Magazine, Feb 16, 2011.
Drumm, Perrin. “Robin Williams solo show at PPOW gallery”, SUNfiltered, February 8, 2011.
In celebration of the launch of Robin F. Williams: We've Been Expecting You, the first major monograph on the artist’s work, P·P·O·W is pleased to host a conversation between Williams and writer Annabel Keenan.
In her debut as CULTURED’s Co-Chief Critic, Johanna Fateman surveys New York’s early-September wave of gallery openings, offering picks for pre-election jitters.
“We really went there,” Robin F. Williams proclaims about a wild vacation to Fire Island they took with friend and fellow painter Jenna Gribbon.
From a French artist’s take on American politics to lively experiments in color and composition.
A new body of work by Robin F. Williams is an event.
Robin F. Williams Summons Horror and Hope in 'Good Mourning'
Robin F. Williams is not afraid of the dark. Their current paintings explore the roles and fates of women in horror films, particularly B-movie slashers.
Robin F. Williams is already having quite the year.
Robin F. Williams, whose first solo museum show opened this month in her hometown in Ohio, is evolving through her works, which are often injected with humor.
Two women who lived a century apart created fascinating, striking paintings − mostly of women – that are now on view at the Columbus Museum of Art.
Robin F. Williams' work is even more profound, mysterious and technically masterful when seen over the course of decades of progress.
As Art Basel returns to full scale in Hong Kong, we spotlight seven galleries exhibiting at the 2024 edition of the fair
The 2024 Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) benefit auction is special for both its cause and curators. This year’s sale, which runs from March 15th through 28th on Artsy, is curated by collectors Rob and Eric Thomas-Suwall.
The Hollywood hitmaker curated decor from a range of eras to contrast with the clean lines of his famous abode, Richard Neutra’s 1955 Brown House
Our cover art for the new issue of Delayed Gratification is Matched by artist Robin F Williams. Robin is a New York-based artist known for her large-scale paintings of female figures. In November 2023 she partnered with New York gallery and art dealer Pace Prints to release Matched, with the proceeds going to Fair Fight, the Georgia-based voting rights organisation set up by Democratic political leader Stacey Abrams.
Morán Morán, Mexico City // September 20, 2023 - November 04, 2023
Robin F. Williams’s practice employs oil, acrylics, pencils, and pastels, frequently depicting female figures in a range of situations on large-scale canvases. The artist, who is represented by P.P.O.W and has more than 109,000 followers on Instagram, is among a number of female figurative artists that have had breakout moments at auction in recent years.
More than half of the auction's lots were created by women.
Seven artists achieved new sales benchmarks at Christie’s Contemporary Art sale in New York on Monday night, including Simone Leigh, a star of the 2022 Venice Biennale, and Robin F. Williams, a figurative painter still in her 30s.
In a bucolic corner of Connecticut, a collecting couple combines two midcentury-modern homes as a retreat for adventurous art and visiting artists
Contemporary society in the United States normalizes the idea of the exhausted mother, so why wouldn’t mother nature be equally exhausted?
How do we look at nature in the present apocalyptic times of an accelerated ecocide? The most recent exhibition opened at P.P.O.W. gallery in New York city, I’m Not Your Mother, delves into the nature-culture inquiries, from an ecofeminist perspective
Want to see new art in New York this weekend? Start in Chelsea with Sonia Gomes’s fabric-heavy solo show and Ursula von Rydingsvard’s wood sculptures. Then head to TriBeCa for a group show on landscape painting and June Leaf’s memorable new show.
Each week, we search for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events, both digitally and in-person in the New York area. See our picks from around the world below. (Times are all ET unless otherwise noted.)
We asked our friend Simon de Pury to give us a lay of the land and to offer a peek into what's on offer.
The Columbus Museum of Art hosted an Artist Talk with New York-based artist and Columbus-native Robin F. Williams whose work Final Girl Exodus is featured in the exhibition Present Generations: Creating the Scantland Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art.
Over 40 donors supported the climate action led by Galleries Commit and Art to Acres, which will see nearly 200,000 acres preserved
As the rise of abstraction swept through the Western art world in the early 20th century, so, too, did a turn towards spirituality. Within the context of prevailing art movements, such as Realism and Impressionism, as well as materialistic philosophies and values, artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Kasimir Malevich, and František Kupka yearned for meaning beyond reality, and ushered in the rise of abstraction. These pioneers of abstract art sought inspiration from spiritualism and theosophy, a synthesis of world religions, sciences, philosophy, and color theory. And while these male artists are renowned as the pioneers of abstract art, their female counterparts have, until recently, gone overlooked and underrecognized in the art-historical canon.
It’s not every day you find yourself standing between two paintings of trolls waving at one another, but that’s exactly what you would have found in Robin F. Williams’s recent show, “Out Lookers,” at P·P·O·W Gallery in New York. Challenging how women are often depicted as scapegoats or untrustworthy figures in popular culture, the artist’s larger-than-life ghosts, witches and supernatural beings bear important messages about social justice, sustainability and issues facing women throughout history. A climate activist and founding member of the environmentalist group Artists Commit, Williams speaks about sustainability in the art industry and the importance of embracing time off.
Art lovers tell us what they’ve bought and why
This past September, the state of Texas enacted the most restrictive abortion ban currently in effect in the United States. The law, Senate Bill 8, prohibits abortions as early as six weeks into the pregnancy—a time period in which most women are unware they are even pregnant. The state’s sweeping legislation also makes no exceptions for people who are victims of rape or incest. The bill is part of a national agenda to end access to abortion across the U.S., including the landmark case Roe v. Wade, which the Supreme Court could possibly overturn—triggering bans in 26 states to go into effect within months.
Plus, shows from Robin F. Williams, Chris Oh, and more.
These nuanced, feverishly intellectual shows will carry you into the enriching fall and winter months.
The large-scale arrival of new and veteran dealers has given the neighborhood its first unifying theme in 60 years. Here are three walks with our critics, a springboard to explore.
Robin F. Williams’ latest solo show Out Lookers at P·P·O·W teeters between dream and nightmare. It’s unnerving and off-putting with witches, ghosts and trolls whose eyes burn like balls of fire. At the same time, it’s exciting, inviting and challenges us to embrace discomfort. Even the accompanying catalogue by Carmen Maria Machado starts out with a degree of unease: “Come Here. Come Here. Do you believe in ghosts? It doesn’t matter. They believe in you.” Out Lookers plays upon this discomfort and invites the viewer to enter Williams’ supernatural world full of subtle references to urban legends, climate change and horror films. Reframing the way in which women are portrayed in popular culture as scapegoats or mistrusted characters, Williams’ figures are powerful, larger than life and waiting to stare right back at the viewer.
No matter how she evolves as a painter, you can recognize a Robin F Williams work right off the bat. It's a gift of talent. If you were to look at her works from a decade ago to now, they have morphed and transformed in so many different directions and yet there is a core that remains the same. There is a challenge of body, of selfhood, of something otherworldly in all of us. Her newest body of work, Out Lookers, is on view now at PPOW Gallery through November 13, 2021.
And just like that, almost as if there was no global pandemic that crippled the world for the past year and a half, Art Basel returned to the Swiss city where it started over 50 years ago, bringing together 272 premier galleries from 33 countries and territories.
From Cynthia Daignault’s new body of work at Kasmin Gallery, New York, to Monika Baer’s first Swiss institutional show in 30 years at Kunsthalle Bern, these are must-see painting shows this season
“I want it to feel as though these women are getting the last laugh,” artist Robin Francesca Williams explains about the toothy grins in her atmospheric portraits. With much of her work, Williams aims to show how women have been mistrusted, scapegoated, and demonized, but also to expose the expectation of their moral superiority, that they must kindly demonstrate purity and unconditional love on behalf of mankind.
We had the opportunity to sit down, albeit virtually, with Pete Scantland, the founder and CEO of the advertising company Orange Barrel Media, and Columbus-based contemporary art collector. Over the past four years, Scantland has amassed quite an impressive collection of some of the most sought after names in the art industry today.
The Woman Destroyed, currently on view at PPOW Gallery, takes as its organizing theme the 1967 Simone de Beauvoir book of the same title, comprised of three stories that explore the personal crises of middle-aged and aging women.