TAWA at 45
The Exhibition
William Hogan
A Cow’s Life
acrylic on canvas, 2021; 30″h x 40″w
William Hogan entered the University of Maryland on a partial track scholarship. He says he was slow over the hurdles but did take a drawing class where he was as fast with charcoal and pretty good. He realized Maryland was not for him, so he applied and was accepted in the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC in the illustration program and graduated three years later. Uncle Sam called and he spent two years in the US Army in San Antonio (TX) as an illustrator making charts with a LeRoy set; however, he entered many local shows and his art career blossomed. He and his wife ventured to Mexico City where he attended the University of the Americas (UofA) and graduated with an MFA in painting. Returning to the states he taught junior high arts and crafts in Espanola, NM for a couple years. Divorced, he moved east to work for The Record newspaper as a staff illustrator/cartoonist in Hackensack (NJ) where he worked for 26 years. Taking a buyout in 2001 he moved south to Bucks County (PA) and bought a house with a studio. He has exhibited in Mexico, New Mexico, Texas, New Jersey, NYC, Pennsylvania, as well as participating in many juried exhibitions locally and nationally. He won a NJSCA grant in the ‘80s. He has had one-person shows at Ellarslie, the Lawrenceville School, the Chapin School, all in the great state of NJ, and twice at Pennswood Art Gallery in Newtown (PA). His art is included in private collections as well as the Newark Museum, Newark (NJ); The Billie Ireland Museum of Cartoon Art at The Ohio State University, Columbus (OH), and the Bergen Museum (NJ); and was a volunteer docent at the Princeton University Art Museum for 12 years. In the past decades there has been death, birth, divorce, travel, illness, museums, painting, exhibitions, vacations, laughter, sadness, joy, and so much more. It’s been an unusually quick rollercoaster ride. Before you know it, you’re 80.
“‘Stream of Consciousness’” is a writer’s term, but I use images in place of words. I’m not interested in the elements of design when I begin; however, what I am interested in is the images that come to mind, over which I draw quickly a colorful painted surface and getting them on canvas in no particular order without conforming to the elements of design. My ideas remain the same: distorted perspectives, juxtaposed objects, ominous symbols, contrasts, cartoon, and serious images, rhythmic fantasies, and the absurd. There’s a bit of contemporary Dadaism as well as Surrealism of my deconstructed canvas of images that now become my steppingstones. A blank surface is always a challenge, almost a fear of me not capturing my experiences, soul, and feelings fast enough.”