(Australian, b. 1985, lives and works in Melbourne, Australia)

Justin Williams is a painter and ceramicist based in Victoria, Australia. From his idyllic studio in the country, he investigates his relatively isolated surroundings. From the beauty found in nature to local folklore and the often strange inhabitants of the quiet mountain towns, Williams creates work that is quietly mystical and reflects and celebrates on the character of places.  It reaches us from a place of subversive beauty, where urban legends and local stories contain strange characters. It is these characters that interest and inform a new body of sculptures and paintings, which delve into the mysteries of the mountain where Williams lives and works.

Raw and honest, Williams is delving into the internal struggle of the duality between light and dark, beauty and hostility, legends and truth; these works are both finished, yet unfinished, as are the people and stories that inform them. His paintings reveal landscapes shimmering in a space between public and hidden worlds; his sculptures speak of characters living within the confines of an almost smothering forest. Although Justin Williams’ works may appear to be a product of an active imagination, in recent years Williams has been living and working in Victoria’s picturesque Dandenong Ranges (in Australia), where he has found unique tales and characters that prove to be more curious than fiction. From his idyllic studio in the mountains he investigates his relatively isolated surroundings through ceramic and painted works. From the beauty found in nature to local folklore, including tales of a lone black panther that wanders the bush, to the often-strange inhabitants of the quiet mountain towns, Williams produces work that reflects on and celebrates the character of the place he lives.

Williams was born in 1985 and received a Bachelor of Communication and Design, Majoring in Printmaking and Illustration from Swinburn University in 2004. He has held numerous solo exhibitions including Viridian, 2014, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne; Mountain I Miss You, 2013, Mild Manner, Brisbane; A Touch of Norway, 2012, Lapis Lazuli Pop Up Factory Gallery, Melbourne. His selected group exhibitions include at the Melbourne Art Fair in 2014; Project 14: Free Range, 2014, Anna Pappas Gallery; Trouble in Paradise, 2012, Paradise Hills Gallery, Melbourne; and Group Show, 2012, Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne. He has been featured in Artist Profile, Australian Creative and New York Arts Magazine.

2017 has seen Williams present new works in his third solo exhibition at Anna Pappas Gallery, Arcana. He has held numerous solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney and his work has been featured in numerous publications including Artist Profile Magazine, Four and Sons, Australian Creative, as well as Australian Art Collector, where he was featured as an artist to watch on the international stage. In 2017, Williams presented works in Athens, London, Los Angeles, and undertook a residency in Spain. 2016 saw Williams present a solo exhibition at Silas von Morisse gallery (formerly ART 3) in New York, and participate in a touring group exhibition which travelled to Copenhagen, Stockholm and Paris.

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