October Gallery presents William S. Burroughs, a solo exhibition of rarely seen works which features paintings and drawings created from a variety of materials. From spray paint, ink and acrylic to markers and gunshots, Burroughs' art is an expedition, identifying portals to unknown worlds and intelligences. His way of seeing is as a creative observer of states of mind. “The pictures constantly change because you are drawn into time travel on a network of associations.” For Burroughs, everything is alive, and his artwork explores this idea, as he did through words in his genre-bending writings. He belongs to no school of art; what he paints expands on the work he has developed throughout his career, in words, multimedia experiments and image-making.

Now one hundred and eleven years since William S. Burroughs’ birth, the exhibition highlights the personal intelligence of his work.

Burroughs was a prolific writer. He also practiced visual art throughout his life. For decades he produced photographs, collages and films. In visual diaries he noted juxtapositions of personal with public events, identifying with those who suffered, later exemplified in paintings Burn unit and Warhol, A portrait in TV dots…. In multimedia collaborations with Brion Gysin, they pioneered incisive tools - ‘cut-ups’- to deconstruct mechanisms of institutionalized control systems that corrupt inborn intelligence. On the death of Gysin, he became a painter. In 1987, he began painting every day. Although his literature had been censored in Britain, he lived in London during the late 1960’s and early ‘70s, making strong connections with many noteworthy figures of the British art scene such as Francis Bacon.

October Gallery’s long association with William S. Burroughs began in 1988 with his second solo exhibition, his first exhibition in the UK. The founders of October Gallery have worked with Burroughs since 1974. Throughout all Burroughs work - art, novels, essays, film and sound experiments - he wove a passionate message: deconstruct control and think for yourself. Artists working in all genres have heard his message, and references to Burroughs’ works are now deeply embedded in Western culture, from painting to film to advertising to literature to journalism to music. While Burroughs is often called the father of the Beat movement, he did not associate himself with the Beats except that Ginsberg, Kerouac and Corso were personal friends. “We’re not doing at all the same thing, either in writing or in outlook.” His 1952 novel, Queer, is the foundation of Luca Guadagnino’s current film of the same name, starring Daniel Craig.

Throughout March, the exhibition will be accompanied by several events, including films and talks, by those who were influenced by his work or knew and collaborated with William S. Burroughs.

October Gallery is thrilled to announce a series of insightful events including film screenings with Q&As and gallery talks that will accompany the forthcoming exhibition William S. Burroughs. Presented by those who were influenced by his work or knew and collaborated with Burroughs, the series begins with a Gallery Talk on 8th March and continues until 5th April, 2025.