WILLIAM VILLALONGO

Triangular canvas with group of women painting and building shelter out of paintings

WILLIAM VILLALONGO

The Thirsty Laborer (If You Build It), 2012

Acrylic, velvet flocking and paper/wood panel

96 x 137 5/16 x 2 in.

Villalongo has stated that the women in his paintings, “do things, mostly, building the world in which they exist.” This is most evident in 'The Thirsty Laborer (If You Build It)' portraying a community of women building a home from Western artworks. Villalongo here refers to African traditions where art objects were more often created to serve a practical purpose whether social, religious or political.

Exhibitions

"William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations," Grinnell College Museum of Art, Grinnell, IA, 26 January 2024 - 6 April 2024; traveled to the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI, 4 May 2024 - 18 August 2024; Museum of Art, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 13 September - 21 December 2024; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 15 May 2025 - 31 August 2025.

"Greater New York 2015," MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY, 26 September 2015 - 7 April 2016.

"William Villalongo: New Mythologies," The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture, Charlotte, NC, 26 October 2013 - 20 January 2014.

“Fierce” Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 18 April 2013 – 4 July 2013.

“Inside Out and From the Ground Up" (inaugural exhibition), MoCA Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, 8 October 2012 – 24 February 2013.

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