Twos features a suite of new paintings by Philadelphia-based artist Ian White Williams. The works presented explore the notion of creating a pair, rather than a diptych, and the subtle change produced by doing so. In 2014, Williams curated a group exhibition at Proto Gallery in Hoboken, in which he invited each painter to provide two works as a set to be presented together, with a request that the pairing might be an unusual selection and might produce unlooked for results.
The exhibition helped set the tone for subsequent Proto Gallery programming. In TWOS, Williams returns to this principle, but instead has produced new paintings as intentional (and perhaps unlooked for) pairings via his own practice rather than as a curator. The work and title of course also reference what it is to be part of a pair, and over time, Twos.
Ian White Williams not only produces simple and elegant paintings and drawings in his Philadelphia studio, but sculpture and performance as well. He holds a BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and a MFA from The Ohio State University. An accomplished teacher and curator, he has recently assembled group exhibitions for the Bushwick Open Studios, Proto Gallery, and alternative spaces in Philadelphia, and has been included in several group exhibitions at Proto Gallery including We Lost Our Tails and Megalodon as well as a duo-exhibition with Ellen Siebers in 2016. He recently co-curated AMALAMALAMOO, a Pop up exhibition of 5 Philadelphia painters, and has participated in group shows at Boecker Contemporary, Edward Thorp Gallery, Black Box, and JB Kline Gallery.