Exhibition Description
The Columbus Museum of Art is pleased to organize and present the first solo institutional exhibition featuring the work of the Columbus-born, Brooklyn-based artist, Robin F. Williams (born 1984). The exhibition includes work from a seventeen-year timeframe, highlighting recurring themes in Williams’ work including the body, gender and identity expression, digital trends and artificial intelligence, folklore, and the supernatural. These paintings trace intriguing changes in Williams’ oeuvre while highlighting the dynamism within her technical process.
Williams’ early paintings reference art historical styles and genres with wry, dreamlike twists. Many of these works challenge gender expectations, for example, men in repose and women engaging in pleasurable activities without guilt. Film is another signature theme in Williams’ work. In one such passage, renderings of female actresses from iconic movies like Rosemary’s Baby and Pulp Fiction are captured in still-shot frames and re-named “Siri” after Apple Inc.’s digital assistant, thereby commenting on the feminization of AI technology. Throughout, figures are presented as fully conscious of the viewer, evidenced in both moments of cool detachment, as well as mocking confrontation.
Robin F. Williams: We’ve Been Expecting You is the artist’s first exhibition that includes works spanning from her early career to the present day. By positioning the painted figures as active agents “expecting” the viewer, the artist prompts the visitor to engage with the experience of being perceived by these intriguing and skillfully rendered paintings.
Admission Information
Robin F. Williams: We’ve Been Expecting You is included with the cost of general admission.
Members get FREE admission.
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Member Preview Party
April 4, 5:00–8:00 PM
Open to members only
This spring, we invite you to step into the worlds of Robin F. Williams and Marie Laurencin—artists born a century apart yet connected by their powerful portrayals of women in art.
This member-exclusive evening includes exhibition previews for Robin F. Williams: We’ve Been Expecting You and Marie Laurencin: Sapphic Paris, light hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, and a curator-led gallery talk.
Members get free admission, access to member-only exhibition previews, and more.