Robert Williams: Fearless Depictions

The Long Beach Museum of Art is pleased to present Robert Williams: Fearless Depictions, a survey exhibition featuring 57 paintings spanning from 2001 to the present, along with two large-scale sculptures by the iconic Southern California artist. Robert Williams’ epic, cartoon-inspired history paintings draw deeply from American vernacular culture and its visual slang, using concrete, relatable, and often absurd imagery to deliver sharp social commentary.

Raised amid the custom hot rod scene in New Mexico before relocating to Southern California, Williams immersed himself in the world of automotive art and design. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute, where he honed his skills as an illustrator while much of the art world turned toward Abstract Expressionism and Conceptualism. His career began in commercial art, including serving as studio art director for Kustom Kulture legend Ed “Big Daddy” Roth in 1965. By the late 1960s, Williams was a founding contributor to the underground ZAP Comix, all the while producing his own caustic and unapologetic works. In 1994, he founded Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine—a publication devoted to the underground—which has since become the top-selling art magazine worldwide.