Robin Williams
Cover for Issue 429
New York
Issue 429 August 26, 2008

Robin Williams paints American children who are steeped in a culture of anxious conformity. The 24-year-old artist, originally from a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, completed her undergraduate work at RISD last year, and soon after debuted in a solo exhibition at Jack the Pelican.

In Mercy, a pair of young boys gnaw on a swollen pink water balloon. Vividly rendered towheads dressed in camouflage tees, they are indistinguishable from each other and blandly Midwestern in a stereotypical way that underscores the homogeneity of suburban culture. The moment is harmless enough, but it seems as though something might burst before long. You can feel it — and already hear the bang.

Robin Williams
Mercy, 2008
Collection of Richard Sachs, New York
Courtesy the artist and Jack the Pelican

 

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