May 17, 20202 min read

HELLO NEIGHBOR - Web Works

Updated: May 27, 2020

title: Web Works

artist: Chris Williford

materials: cotton, fleece, zip ties, acrylic, fabric dye, patches, filters, spotlights

dimensions: various dimensions

location: Andersonville, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Web Works is a collection of fabric collages, each referencing the form of a spiderweb. Their ghoulish silhouettes present themselves either as warning signs, or possibly the aftermath of a wild party.

These webs are looking to the outside world while simultaneously existing in it. Spiderwebs are as much inside homes as they are out, and often concealed in plain sight. Through choosing to hide the contents of the room while also spotlighting the webs, I am referencing this quarantine's ability to make us feel stuck inside while also too afraid to go out.

Chris Williford (b. 1993, Dallas, TX) received his BFA in Printmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2015, and MFA in Printmedia from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018. Recent exhibitions include Frayed: Fiber Beyond Craft at ARC Gallery (Chicago, IL), SOFT at Chicago Printmakers Collaborative (Chicago, IL), Frankenglam at The Whistler (Chicago, IL), Fang Parlour (installation at SAIC MFA Show), and Clemson National Print and Drawing Exhibition (Clemson, SC). His work recently appeared in New American Paintings #137, Midwest Issue, and he was recently shortlisted as a Grant Finalist for The Hopper Prize.

I make my work almost entirely out of recycled materials, kicking them around my studio until they’re used. I center my practice around the transformation of unwanted materials into images that speak about desire, as a kind of allegory that anyone or anything can be glamour—even if they’ve been deemed trash. Follow him on Instagram: @cwilli

More on Chris Wiliford's Practice

I explore the dark side of glamour and its allure to both celebrate and critique popular culture’s myths about itself. Symbols drawn from fashion and youth culture are layered and patterned with personal illustrations in order to lure viewers into dizzying, colorful images. I often use the process of collage to allow us to see both the breaks in the veneer and the complexity underneath. Through an interdisciplinary approach to personal memoir, I relay ongoing accounts of a melodramatic, queer mythology where glamour rises from the trash can.