Local Exhibit:
Jonathan Williams and Friends
Friday, September 3, 2004 – Sunday, January 9, 2005
Asheville Art Museum
Holden Community Gallery
http://www.ashevilleart.org
Jonathan Williams (b. 1925) is an Asheville native, a long time WNC resident and a man of many diverse interests and talents. A champion of the avant garde, Williams once described his occupations as poet, publisher, designer, essayist, and iconographer. To this impressive list should be added photographer, as Williams has been producing photographs for over fifty years. He attended Black Mountain College and in 1951 founded Jargon Press. He has penned approximately 200 books and pamphlets, including over 100 Jargon publications. Among his many honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship for Poetry, numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, honorary degrees, and the 1977 North Carolina Award in Fine Arts. He lives in Highlands, NC, where, as he says with characteristic humor, "Why go anywhere? There's a Wal-Mart in Clayton, GA; there's a Wal-Mart in Franklin, NC; there's a Wal-Mart in Sylva, NC – world without end. O brave new world, that hath such people in it!" (Jonathan Williams, from A Buncombe County Reverie, 2004).
Throughout his life in the arts, Williams has befriended many extraordinary people; artists, poets, writers, visionaries and members of the bohemian literati. This exhibition contains a multitude of photographs documenting his remarkable friendships, and includes works from Williams' recent book A Palpable Elysium: Portraits of Genius and Solitude (2002). Many of the images are paired with works in Williams' collection by the artists portrayed, providing a fascinating window into each artist's world. Also presented are related Jargon books and publications by Williams. The Museum is delighted to present this sampling of the work of Jonathan Williams to his own community.
This exhibition is sponsored by The Judy Appleton Memorial Fund and The Captain's Bookshelf. It is accompanied by an Asheville Art Museum special publication, available for sale in the Museum Shop.
