Background
Brian Williams is an American painter and printmaker working in Japan. Born in 1950 to American missionary parents, he was raised in Peru and Chile until his teens. Moving to California, Williams decided to pursue a career in art at age 16. He finished high school and spent four years studying at the University of California at Santa Barbara. In 1972, he relocated to Japan. In 2007, Williams invented what he calls "parabolic painting," composed of panel paintings that have been curved to reflect the eye's movement across the scene.
Essentially, Brian’s parabolic paintings are painted on a curved surface of alternating concave and convex waves. "The human eye is curved," says Brian. "These paintings follow the trajectory of the eye as it tracks a scene and takes it in. It is an attempt to recreate the sensation of viewing a landscape through the external shape and curvature of the panel." He first came up with the idea when he was out painting a scene in rural Shiga. In 2007 he bought a bucket truck (a type of mobile aerial-work platform) in order to give himself some elevation when painting. Up high in the bucket one day, he dropped a brush, and as he lowered himself to retrieve it and simultaneously followed the brush with his eyes as it flowed downstream, his vision was caught up in the natural sweep of the landscape in a great curving arc and breadth of vision that no flat surface could depict. Williams has spoken about the curvature of a painting's surface suggesting a subliminal visual sphere, from which a beautiful “"parabolic effect" is created. It was the realization of this normally subliminal "visual sphere" that led in a flash of inspiration to parabolic representative art.
In addition to working as an artist, Williams has become an avid world traveler and environmental activist. He works in a variety of media, including watercolor and gouache paints as well as lithographic and intaglio printing. He has had over 100 solo exhibitions throughout the United States and Japan.
William's art is in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales; Cleveland Museum of Art; Cincinnati Art Museum; Cleveland Museum of Art; Kyoto University; Los Angeles County Art Museum; Museum of New South Wales; and Oregon Art Institute.
Design:
Arihara (有原) Village in the Takashima area of Shiga Prefecture is renowned for its traditional thatched-roof houses, which have been preserved to maintain the area's historical charm. These homes are often constructed using local materials and techniques passed down through generations, reflecting the community's deep connection to its cultural heritage. The village's serene atmosphere and scenic beauty make it a popular destination for visitors seeking to experience rural Japan's timeless appeal..
The view shown here is illustrative of many small rural communities in Japan, providing a visual record of local heritage in rural life in Japan. Thatched roofs (kayabuki 茅葺き), crafted from dry vegetation like straw, reeds, or palm leaves, have been a traditional roofing method for millennia. Their insulating properties make them suitable for various climates, providing warmth in winter and coolness in summer. Today, kayabuki is a dying art, with very few people remaining with knowlege about the craft of kayabuki roofing. They require frequent and expensive maintenance, and interventions to provide some protection against fires, in areas that struggle with depopulation. Government subsidies and UNESCO protection help to preserve key villages. Several artists in Japan, including Brian Williams, have documented thatched-roof houses and indirectly raise awareness of the traditional craft of kayabuki roofing.
References
- Betsy Franco and Michael Verne, Quiet Elegance: Japan Through the Eyes of Nine American Artists. Rutland, VT: 1997, 75-86.
- Michael Lambe, "The Artist Brian Williams," May 11, 2011; Deep Kyoto, https://www.deepkyoto.com/the-artist-brian-williams/
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