Zugzwang Painting

William was born in 1978. Several years later, he told his folks he wanted to be an artist. Being of a supportive nature, they gave him some pencils and paper. In doing so they also gave him a career. William was one of those people with the good fortune to discover early on where the deposit of talent lay within himself. He found joy in doing something he was naturally good at, and, as with any such endeavour, good return on invested time led to greater investment. In 1990, William was diagnosed with life-threatening liver failure. A diagnosis of leukaemia soon followed. He was eleven. For the next three years he lived with the knowledge that it could all end at any moment. Living with such conditions cannot help but alter one’s perspective on life. Moreover, that change in outlook never truly departs, and has informed so much of William’s work as an adult. Lying in the hospital bed, William remembers asking his folks for pencils and paper. It was at this point that Ruth and John knew their son was recovering. For many, art is a way of life, or a welcome escape from it. For William, art became a way back to life. High school would expose William to many new techniques – he was fortunate to have teachers who recognised his ability and then encouraged him to extend himself in new directions. It is a tenet he continues to hold to, never content to confine himself to one discipline. Following school, William decided to join the army. He served for three years then left, returning to the Gold Coast which had always been his home. His pencils and paper would sit, mostly unused, for four years. But talent, that strange and indomitable beast, would not stop seeking a way out. In 2003, William abandoned any pretence towards living a 9 to 5 life. He set about in earnest what that deposit of talent – that rich vein that can never be tapped out – demanded of him; to be refined, enriched, and utilised. He rented out a studio apartment and filled it with the tools of his craft. There he would live for the next five years, surrounded by his creations, his adventures into imagination – and it was here that he underwent the metamorphosis that took him from amateur artist to professional. By 2009 William knew that it was time to venture into the wider world, starting with Canada, a decision that would herald a new phase in his life and would have a profound effect on his work. Not only that, he found his feet attached solidly into the live painting scene.