Christopher Williams (born 1956) is an American conceptual artist and fine-art photographer. He lives in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and works in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

Early life and education

Williams was born in 1956 in Los Angeles, California. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he studied at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

where he received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. under the first generation of West Coast conceptual artists.

Work

Writing in ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

'' in 2007, art critic

Tim Griffin John Timothy Griffin (born August 21, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 20th lieutenant governor of Arkansas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the United States Attorney for the Eastern Dist ...

described Williams's approach as "sociophotographic." It has been said that Williams works within the tradition of institutional critique within what Sven Lütticken describes as an informal group, along with Willem de Rooij, Jeroen de Rijke and Mathias Poledna, that investigates the "parameters of the exhibition space." Chronologically, however, he belongs to

The Pictures Generation ''The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984'' was an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City that ran from April 29 – August 2, 2009. The exhibition took its name from ''Pictures'', a 1977 group show organized by art h ...

. In 1982 Williams had his first solo exhibition at Jancar Kuhlenschmidt Gallery in Los Angeles. ''Angola to Vietnam'' is a photography portfolio of glass flowers.This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, February 11 – June 3, 2012

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporar ...

. In 2000, at an exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery, in New York, Williams showed twenty photographs including a series of pictures of a 1964 Renault automobile on its side. Writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Ken Johnson said, "the Renault was made in a French factory where significant revolutionary activities took place in 1968; hence it is tipped up like a barricade." Williams' photographs oftentimes show increasingly obsolescent film-based equipment—cameras, lenses and darkroom gear—as beautiful and precise as catalog product shots. The accompanying text adds detail about how the equipment was used. Made by a professional photographer who follows Williams's directions, the conventionally scaled pictures have the glossy lucidity of excellent commercial photographs.

Educator

Since October 2008 he has been a professor in photography at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová ...

Personal life

Williams' wife is curator and former Stedelijk Museum director Ann Goldstein.

Publications

*''Christopher Williams: The production Line of Happiness.'' . Exhibition catalogue. **London:

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

, 2014. **Walther König, 2014. *''Christopher Williams: Printed in Germany.'' Walther König, 2014. . Exhibition catalogue.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*2005: Secession, Vienna. *2005: Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany. *2006: Museu Serralves, Porto, Portugal. *2007:

Kunsthalle Zürich The Kunsthalle Zürich is a contemporary art exhibition centre in Zurich, Switzerland. It is located on Limmatstrasse, near the city centre. A number of temporary exhibitions are organized each year. In 2014 Daniel Baumann replaced Beatrix Ruf ...

. *2010: Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany. *2010:

Bergen Kunsthall Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

, Norway. *2011: Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany. *2011:

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

, Deurle, Belgium. *2013: ''Christopher Williams: For Example: Dix-Huit Leçons Sur La Société Industrielle (Revision 18),'' David Zwirner, London. *2014 at

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and list of largest art museums, largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visit ...

and traveled to

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of th ...

, New York. *2020: CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS ''MODEL: Kochgeschirre, Kinder, Viet Nam (Angepasst zum Benutzen)'', C/O Berlin, Berlin

Exhibitions with others

*2013: 55th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

, curated by

Massimiliano Gioni Massimiliano Gioni (born 1973) is an Italian curator and contemporary art critic based in New York City, and Artistic Director at the New Museum. He is the Artistic Director of the Nicola Trussardi Foundation in Milan as well as the Artistic Dire ...

Awards

*2005: Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. *2005–2006:

Foundation for Contemporary Arts The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was ...

Grants to Artists Award.http://www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/grant_recipients/christopherwilliams.html *2014: Photography Catalogue of the Year,

Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards is a yearly photography book award that is given jointly by Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation. It is announced at the Paris Photo fair and was established in 2012. The categories are First P ...

for ''Christopher Williams: The Production Line of Happiness'' and ''Christopher Williams: Printed in Germany.''Announcing the Winners of The Paris Photo—Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards 2014
,

Aperture Foundation Aperture Foundation is a nonprofit arts institution, founded in 1952 by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Barbara Morgan, Dorothea Lange, Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, Ernest Louie, Melton Ferris, and Dody Warren. Their vision was to create a forum ...

. Accessed 30 October 2015.

References

Literature

Burton, Johanna. “Christopher Williams at David Zwirner.” ''Artforum'' (May 2008): 376-377.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110616193544/http://www.davidzwirner.com/pdf.htm?href=%2Fresources%2F31617%2FCW%20Artforum%20Godfrey%2007-05.pdf Godfrey, Mark. “Christopher Williams.” ''Artforum'' (May 2007): 366.]
Lütticken, Sven. “Gegen die Wand.” ''Texte Zur Kunst'' (June 2009): 121-123.

External links

* ttp://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/christopher-williams/ Christopher Williams at David Zwirner
Gisela Capitain Gallery

Wako Works of Art

Christopher Williams in Dům umění České Budějovice, Budweis, Czech Republic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Christopher 1956 births Living people Grinnell College alumni Artists from California American photographers American conceptual artists Kunstakademie Düsseldorf faculty Fine art photographers