As part of our Holiday ’19 collection, we are pleased to have collaborated with colorful artist, William LaChance. LaChance uses abstract designs, displaced forms, and colors to create his brilliant work, all placed together with a motley of materials. This collaboration features a Beach Towel and a USA-Made Tapestry Blanket.
We caught up with LaChance to discuss the collaboration.
Slowtide: Can you tell us where you're from and how you got into art?
William LaChance: I’m from St. Louis. I grew up around collectors; my parents collected and dealt in antiques, so I developed an appreciation for objects and specifically certain qualities in those objects that allowed them to transcend their inherent identity: wear, provenance, context.. when these characteristics are thought of separate from their original functions, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts, so not much different from artistic discourse- by re-contextualizing common things, the artist imbues those things with a similar kind of quintessence.
S: What inspires you?
WL: I’m inspired by anything new- not in terms of age, experientially speaking. A persistent theme in my work is the pursuit of that quality. In each piece there are a couple of disparate components competing for identity: abstraction and representation, flat and spatial, articulation and chance. There’s energy in the tension of the viewer having to invent the totality of a picture.
S: Describe a typical day for you
WL: I’ll have some espresso, check my traps (email) and head to the studio for the day to paint!
S: Who is your favorite artist?
WL: There’s a French painter, Jean Helion- he was a leading modernist who rejected abstraction mid-career and painted figures for the next fifty years of his life. His figurative work reveals the natural quality of abstraction and vice versa.
S: Any new projects that you're excited about?
WL: I’m excited to be newly represented at Joshua Liner Gallery in New York. I’ve always seen him as a visionary gallerist so I was totally honored when he invited me to show there. I’ll also be showing at David Bloch gallery in Morocco and Golden Hands Gallery in Hamburg throughout the year.
S: What do you like about a towel?
WL: It’s a genius object with functionality and efficiency second only (probably) to the bicycle- it’ll dry you off, keep you warm- it’s both a top and bottom garment, it’s headwear, seat cover and room divider all rolled into one! Add to that it’s ability to enhance personal environments as artistic medium and that’s a wrap!
