Todd Williamson was born and raised in Cullman, Alabama. In 1984 he began his artistic career with art and music study at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. in 1986, Williamson was recruited to the University of Alabama at Birmingham to work with their theatre for one year. He then returned to the Belmont University and concluded his study program with a BA in 1988. In the following year, Williamson moved to California and studied at California State University, and UCLA, working towards his MFA. Since 2004, Williamson lives and works in West Hollywood, CA. Williamson was three times awarded by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation; for Creativity in 2023 and 2019 and an Award Grant in 2010. Among other awards were the Artists Special Recognition-Art Non Stop International Film Festival (Buenos Aires), an Icon Award-Los Angeles Beverly Arts, Special Mention Award MAVV Museum, Bluduemila Associazione Sport & Arte – Best Foreign Artist (Naples, Italy), the ART 1307 Istituzione Culturale – Artistic Merit Award, (Naples, Italy), and the Artslant International – Abstract Showcase Award Winner. He has exhibited extensively in both the United States and abroad. Being stimulated by the works of Mark Rothko, Ellsworth Kelly, Barnett Newman and Helen Frankenthaler, his works include elements of classical modern art, with references to the chiaroscuro technique, and to the California Light and Space movement of the 1960s and 70’s. Williamson has been deeply influenced by his early musical studies. His works attempt to show the connection between art and the expression of music, the objective being to give the viewer an all-embracing artwork (“Gesamtkunstwerk”) of “musical art” or “visual music”.’ Williamson’s “Processional”, an art and music collaboration with composer Greg Walter, was one of twenty official exhibitions at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019 with 100,000 visitors & a top pick by Forbes, Domus, Widewalls, Artteez, and the Venice Insider! “Williamson’s large-scale paintings feel nearly monolithic in their physicality and the sheer weight of their presence.” - Eve Wood, Artillery Magazine, Jan 5, 2021 “Abstract works of remarkable gestural power scattered around the chapel, even on the altar. Phrases from famous people accompany the works as engravings on black plates. words, tweets, and posts extrapolated from their speeches, written in Latin as messages of prophets, letters, and testimonies that thus take on even deeper importance.” -Antonio Conte, Il Mondo Disuk, Nov 12, 2019 ARTIST STATEMENT: "My work is an expression of my emotions and the way I see the world. It deals with sex, violence, beauty, and freedom. It is an extension my thoughts and how the world affects my being. Anger, frustration, fear, and intense passion all exist in the work as I debate within myself the uncertainties of the world and how to change it or control it. Color has a strong emotive power that pulls from the soul. It brings out our deepest, darkest secrets and most intense passions. Colors can calm and warm your soul or it can insight you to violence or deeply felt passion. Color, much like sound, is a constant memory. I work to capture this memory and balance it in my work. The colors work like emotions, only real and perceptible to the viewer. Marco di Mauro (Italian) stated that my work is 'the visible, perception of emotions on canvas.' The parallel lines in my work are used as constraints and hold the emotions to a readable place on the canvas. They act similarly to staffs on a page of music holding each note in place and giving it structure. In this respect, my work can be read like sheet music, giving you a small glimpse of who I am while creating a concerto of thoughts and memories on the canvas."