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Altman Siegel<\/a> is thrilled to present an exhibition of new work by Juxtapoz<\/em> staff favorite, Didier William<\/a>. This suite of paintings on panel builds upon the artist’s recent large-scale installation at Prospect New Orleans. Here, William explores the precarity of belonging, considering the groundlessness that sometimes marks the cultural identity of immigrant populations. What systems, codes, or traditions define cultural identity on foreign land? Fusing vibrant color with exuberant figuration, these tactile works merge ancestral narratives with autobiographical lore set against an impending climate catastrophe. Fiery horizons and bursts of energetic bolts bifurcate the stasis of the picture plane.\u00a0<\/p>\n The churn represented in this imagery not only speaks to the ever-changing social, economic, and political landscape but also to the durational aspect of painting itself. For William, painting is a time-based medium. It\u2019s not a static constant but rather something that unfurls itself to the viewer over multiple exchanges of looking. The ambiguous, supernatural, muscular forms that occupy this primordial yet verdant terrain have been described as titans. But the strength of these luminous figures also lies in their vulnerability. The characters in these paintings are clad in chainmail-like armor, which reveals itself to be composed of hundreds if not thousands of eyes upon closer inspection. The entire world, all its pain and beauty, penetrates the mind through this relatively small and fragile ocular device \u2013 but vision is also arguably our most reliable defense. The acute tension between our permeability and our unyielding drive toward endurance is elucidated in these objects.<\/p>\n In an entirely text-based work, the words \u201csteel yourself\u201d are inscribed into a wooden substrate. Produced shortly after the 2024 presidential election, these words both warn the viewer to brace themselves for what\u2019s to come and describe the protective layer that encompasses William\u2019s signature humanoid forms. Will the future be destructive? Cleansing? Survivable?<\/p>\n Opaque scenes unfold with emotive intensity and great restraint throughout the artist’s practice. Deploying a wide range of techniques, including printmaking, wood carving, monumental sculpture, and painting, William masterfully interconnects narratives around colonialism, ecological degradation, deeply personal references, and the subject of painting itself to arrive at powerfully idiosyncratic works.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n