William Scott

American, contemporary.
Born 1964, San Francisco, California.

William Scott is a self-taught artist capable of rendering his imagined public and private worlds with remarkable accuracy and meticulous detail. While deeply rooted in personal history, Scott’s paintings address wider questions of citizenship, community, and cultural memory. His portrait series of predominantly Black figures encompasses actors, musicians, politicians, and civil rights leaders, as well as self-portraits, family members, and women from the Baptist church he has attended since childhood.

Frequently describing himself as an architect, Scott draws, paints and re-builds his native San Francisco in search of the elusive "normal life," one of Baptist-sermon ideals and gleaming, safe, artistically franchised, city centers. San Francisco re-emerges as "Praise Frisco," a place where Scott's public longing for wholesome, peaceful interactions take place within idealized neighborhood landmarks. The proposals for new buildings, neighborhoods, and community centers describe his compelling desire for a more equitable society.

While Scott’s paintings are hopeful and sincere, they equally confront loss and contemplate ideas of renewal and rebirth. His long-standing ‘Inner Limits’ series takes the form of spaceships that are designed to resurrect the dead to start new lives and bring peace to the earth via ‘Wholesome Encounters.

“William Scott is among the most important artists working today. His profoundly empathetic paintings should be in the permanent collections of every contemporary art museum.”
Matthew Higgs - Director/Chief Curator, White Columns

--Creative Growth Art Center

Biography

CV