Born in Los Angeles in 1956 and deceased in San Francisco in 2024, Williams was the Godfather of both the San Francisco New Mission School and the Global Stencil Pirate movement. Williams was the leading pioneer in the painterly expansion of stencil and airbrush media. The relentless intensity of William’s artwork compels one to see the way he saw, to think the way he thought; his drawings draw you into his own parallel universe which even his death does not extinguish. Williams’ work is pan-American in its roots and unique to California culture. It’s a hybrid mix of both Catholic and indigenous Mexican paper-cutting techniques, street art and graffiti bravado, with the intelligence and sardonic commentary of Jose Guadalupe Posada, and the heat of modern Chicano aesthetics (Williams lived in the Mission District of San Francisco for about 40 years). Throw in some beat, punk, and psychedelic San Francisco influences and you have an exceptionally original and potent aesthetic vernacular.
Obit.
Press Name: Scott Williams
In Collection:
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts / Graphic Arts Council
Watch Your StepCollege of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University
LoquacitySavannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Atlanta
WesternUniversity of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
Horses WestYale University, Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library
Spectrum