David Williams - Photographs

flow...

This body of work was made in Kyoto, by the banks of the Kamo river. It comprises a series of images of couples of all ages and backgrounds, sitting by the river- talking, courting, taking lunch, or simply watching the river flow together. Historically, the Kamo river has been the location for such activity for many, many years. The work exists in print form, but was also recently shown in Kyoto as a slow dissolve video installation in the Weissraum Gallery which is situated by the Kamo river itself.

2009

one taste: (n)ever-changing
(88 Places)

one taste: (n)ever-changing is an extended body of work carried out over recent years at a variety of Japanese Buddhist temple sites, mainly in Kyoto. It was completed in 2007. '88 Places' is a typology of each of the Orin (devotion bells) at the 88 Omuro Ninaji Temples, a popular site of pilgrimage.

2007

one taste: (n)ever-changing (Tofuku-ji Zen temple)

A series of 8 triptychs of a cedar tree shot throughout the same day.

... the rigid formalism of these images is designed to connote the dialogue between nature and culture, permanence and change, form and emptiness ...(Dr Tom Normand)

2003

one taste: (n)ever-changing
(Various)

Stillness and Occurence

'Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.' (The Heart Sutra)

These large scale colour seascapes were made over a five year period and taken from the beach at Portobello, Edinburgh.

Mobilising an essentially redemptive aesthetic, Williams creates a mesmeric space fostering a capacity for contemplation on the part of the viewer. (Dr Sara Stevenson)

1995-2000

Source

Source was comissioned by The National Galleries of Scotland for the Contemporary Room of the exhibition Light from the Dark Room. This installation consists of 5 closely hung metre square sections.

... we see light coming out of darkness and hear sound coming out of silence ... the mirroring of the images about the central void makes a great embracing crescendo.
(Dr James Lawson)

1995

Findings... Bitter-sweet

Originally shot on Polaroid SX-70 and then enlarged for final presentation, this work represents a semi-autobiographical journey. It was later made into a photo animation.

The argument of the work is that the bitter and the sweet are not epithetical, but are woven into the very substance of existence.
(Dr James Lawson)

1994

Is: Ecstasies I-XXII

The points of light and recurring signs and symbols, with their vague reference to archetypes, are the notes of harmony and discord in a musical pattern that resolve unease into calm assurance. (David Chandler)

1988

Post Office Commission

This body of work was commissionedby the GPO in Scotland to celebrate its 350th anniversary.

1985

Pictures From No Man's Land

This artist-in-residence project was commissioned by St. Margaret's School for Girls, Edinburgh, in conjunction with the Scottish Arts Council.

... one of the most absorbing and informative visual records of the late 20th century.
(Norman Parkinson)

1984

Royal Wedding