William Blake Exhibition Catalog 2022 - Flipbook - Page 13
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ARTIST
INTERVIEWED BY: JASON PATTERSON
Jason Patterson met William Blake in Champaign, IL, Jason’s
hometown, when William was studying at the University of Illinois.
painting was to last, it was also a call to future painters. Though it doesn’t
have to be that linear or visible.
William was a regular customer at Art Coop, the local art supply store,
I have an attachment to painters like Winslow Homer, I embody him
where Jason was an employee. They quickly bonded over their shared
at American Civil War battle reenactments. There’s something similar that
interests in art and history.
happens when reenacting and honestly more direct when painting what
In the spring and early summer of 2022 they discussed William’s new
series of work, A Great Battlefield:
JP: We live in a time when the invention of photography is almost 200
I paint. Reenactment uses the body to connect to the past and so does
painting, more than photography at least. I think that’s why it’s important
to me.
years old. Within our society and culture, taking pictures digitally is now
JP: In your work you wonderfully make references to old master
the ironclad standard when it comes to how we collectively make visual
paintings. Winslow Homer is a main subject in this project. We see him
representations of each other. Painting, as a primary way to create visual
beautifully celebrated in the forefront of this series. But along with Homer,
representations of people, has long passed. So today, in the 21st century,
can you also talk about the other old masters referenced in this new work?
when we paint and draw representational artwork, there must be more to
WB: There are always some Catholic sympathies in my paintings,
it conceptually. So for you, in your practice as an artist, why is it important
either because of the resurrection/embodiment metaphors in reenactment
for you to oil paint? Conceptually, why is oil painting the best vehicle for
or the fact that my first deep encounters with art were at church. So, I’m
your ideas?
looking a lot at the Spanish and Italian painters.
WB: Because people have pushed around mud to make images for at
I was thinking directly of Pontormo’s Deposition for the painting High
least 40,000 years, painting is in constant dialogue with the past. Reading
Water Mark. I love his figures and the gesture of Christ’s hand being
a painting is a mimetic encounter, I think especially for us painters. When
held. I made a series of paintings after participating in a reenactment at
viewing a painting, we attempt to dissect the moves made, put ourselves
Gettysburg which had Clara Barton checking the pulse of a man during
in the position of the painter, to see what they saw… like that painter did
his leg amputation. I liked this idea of searching for the liveness in
with the paintings around them. A painting is a gesture to the past and
reenactment and brought that into how I saw the Pontromo painting- that
the future in that way—Manet made his balcony painting in dialogue with
they were checking Christ’s pulse, always questioning his liveness.
Goya and Magritte. His painting was a response to Goya and knowing his
Manet’s Civil War lithograph is another reference. The first images I
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