Herb
Herb Williams was born in Montgomery, AL, in 1973. Every summer from the age of twelve to graduating from high school at eighteen, he worked in construction, which gave him a deep understanding of form and materials. He received a BFA in sculpture from Birmingham-Southern College, and there apprenticed under three professional sculptors off-campus. Upon graduation Herb immediately went to work at a bronze foundry in West Palm Beach, FL. There he helped cast hundreds of sculptures with the atelier Popliteo and the last piece of work by photo realist Duane Hanson, “Man on Riding Lawnmower.” He then moved to Nashville, TN, where he has lived and created art since 1998. He has two beautiful children, Clay and Maggie, with his wife (and first model), Amy. Herb received The Joan Mitchell Foundation Museum Purchase Grant in 2004 and the Next Star Artist Award in 2008.
Herb is one of the only individuals in the world with an account with Crayola. He creates original sculptures out of individual crayons that may require as many as hundreds of thousands. He will also cast the completed crayon sculptures in a silicone jacket mold with a two-part epoxy resin and then paint the resin sculpture to look like the original, occasionally producing a small edition. The cast sculptures have been placed in public arenas, such as children’s hospitals, corporate lobbies, and museum walls.
Herb & Shepard Fairey
The press and acclaim the crayon sculptures have garnered has reached as far as China, England, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Croatia, and Japan. Most recently, his work was featured at an Inaugural art exhibit in Washington, DC, with Shepard Fairey. Herb is currently represented by The Rymer Gallery in Nashville, TN, and The Rare Gallery in Chelsea, NYC.
Crayons are a gateway drug. To most adults, the sight and smell of crayons produce specific memories of childhood. The twist in the road to nostalgia is the creation of a new object, from a medium in which it was not intended. This element of unexpected interaction and play had me at hello.
I am one of the only independent buyers in the world who maintains an account with Crayola. Because I am in pursuit of larger ideas, the playful aspect of my medium is integral to the works of art I’m creating. I can subversively insert a concept that may bloom well after the initial recognition of the form as a familiar children’s implement. To create my work I need to produce sculpture on a grand scale (which takes thousands and thousands of crayons), so I order each color individually packed (3000 to a case) and cut the sticks down to the length I need. I then bond the paper—not the wax—to a form I have carved or cast, completely enveloping the form.
I am interested in identifying iconic objects that society perceives to fit one role and then reintroducing them in different subtexts. Intriguing questions arise when an object associated with childhood, such as a crayon, is used to address issues dealing with more adult matters, such as sexuality, religion, and social hierarchy. The sculptures are childlike in their curious approach to the object as icon, but beguiling and satisfying to me in the use of pure color as form. Larger room installations also add the element of playing to the olfactory sense, as the scent of the wax completely saturates the environment. I hope that this body of work is my most successful in adding to the greater visual dialogue of original art. My intent is to continue to seriously create art that looks at itself unseriously.
Some of my influences are H.C. Westermann, Fiona Rae, Jasper Johns, Jim Dine, Cai Guo-Qiang, Sandy Skoglund, Liza Lou, David Mach, Charles Ray, René Magritte, El Anutsui, Marcel Duchamp, Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Robert Rauschenburg, Tim Hawkinson, Martin Wohrl, Tara Donovan, Banksy, and Ai Weiwei.
