Bill Claps

(American)

morototoni, 2016 by bill claps

Bill Claps

Morototoni, 2016, 2023

Price on Request

Biography

Timeline

Bill recently traveled to the Humboldt National Forest, which is a rain forest, to photograph endemic plant species for his series, "Natural Abstractions." The lush rain forest landscape sparked Bill's imagination for these vibrant, gilded prints. Bill also developed a unique gold foil technique for this series.

The intrepid artist has also drawn upon Morse code to inform his creative works. "In an age where all of our art and communication can be reduced to and stored in a binary language, the fact that Morse code was one of the earliest forms of digital code and the first universal language of the digital age resonates strongly with me," he said, in an artist statement. "There's beauty in the simplicity of the simple dots and dashes of this outdated language, but layers of meaning and relevance can be conveyed using its symbolic lexicon."

Other inspirational sources include "calligraphy, the human figure, Chinese landscape painting, expressionism, and appropriated images from contemporary art," he added. A native of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Bill now lives and works in New York City. He earned a Bachelor of Arts at Harvard University, where he studied painting and art history. He also studied painting and drawing at the Art Students League in New York and in Florence, Italy. His paintings and drawings have been presented in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and institutions of the United States and Europe. He writes for Artspace.com and Exibart Magazines.

hink the artist's first responsibility is to himself, to express whatever is inside," Bill said. in an interview with Artspace magazine. "If you listen to yourself, your work will express something important, and hopefully others in society will gain from that."

Bill's work is currently showing at the International Club in Wellington, Florida, and at Keyes Art in Palm Springs, California. His work has also been exhibited in the following venues: Salomon Arts Gallery (New York), Priska C. Juschka Fine Art (New York), Henry Gregg Gallery (New York), Rush Arts Gallery (New York), Aspen Fine Arts Gallery (Aspen, Colorado), Bendheim Gallery (Greenwich, Connecticut), Kismet Gallery (Westport, Connecticut) and Exhibit Gallery (Tulsa, OK). In Europe: la Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di Palazzo Corsini in Rome; Artgeneve, Geneva; Art Monaco; Evartspace, Geneva; Spazio Garibaldi 77, Milano, Gallery@1, Gstaad, Switzerland, Galerie 55.