Welcome to the William Woodward Website!
In my paintings, I explore the familiar, trying to discover a significant surprise that it still contains: an unusual effect of light, a novel cluster of shapes, an unexpected poetic feeling that may emerge.
But more, I feel that Art is the sum total of everything that’s been done. To be an artist, to be able to judge your own work, you need to be a connoisseur of what Art has been, from the beginning to the present time. I am captivated by the materials, methods, techniques, and the crafts of old masters; being a painter entails mastery of these skills oneself, in order to have the power to express your vision and the way you perceive the world. Much of this has to do with beauty, even if the subject of a work of art is tragic.
An original point of view is also essential. I believe that the function of art is to charm the senses and captivate the mind, and that the best servitors of the new are those who know and love the old, and carry it over into the new in fresh, exciting ways.
-William Woodward
