Aubrey Williams

The New Year of 2010 welcomes in two major exhibitions, in two different cities, of the work of one extraordinary international artist: Aubrey Williams. October Gallery, London and Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool, have joined forces to produce two linked and overlapping solo exhibitions of Williams' work together with the publication of a new catalogue providing fresh insights into one of the twentieth century's great artistic spirits. Born in 1926, in Georgetown, Guyana, Aubrey Williams remains one of the great enigmas of twentieth-century painting. He can be seen as a colossus, bestriding the Atlantic, with feet firmly planted in two very different worlds. Yet his brilliant career remains unknown to many, unacknowledged by all but the most insightful of art critics and art historians. In the UK, Aubrey Williams' work has been exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery, the Royal Festival Hall, the Commonwealth Institute and the Hayward Gallery. October Gallery, mounting Aubrey Williams: Now and Coming Time in London, has represented Aubrey Williams since 1984, while the exhibition Aubrey Williams: Atlantic Fire at the prestigious Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool is the first time that a solo exhibition of Williams work has been held in one of the UK's national museums.