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William Cannings: Vetted October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings: Vetted
October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings: Vetted October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings: Vetted
October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings: Vetted October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings: Vetted
October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings: Vetted October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings: Vetted
October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings: Vetted October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings: Vetted
October 14 – November 11, 2017

William Cannings, Study for Bang, Bang, 2017
William Cannings, Bang, Bang, 2017
William Cannings, Inside-out, 2016
William Cannings, Slump, 2017
William Cannings, Study for Connected, 2017
William Cannings, Connected, 2017
William Cannings, Study for Composition, 2017
William Cannings, Composition, 2017
William Cannings, air-MESS, 2017
William Cannings, Infinite, 2017
William Cannings, Migrate, 2017

Press Release

Cris Worley is proud to present her sixth solo exhibition with William Cannings, opening with an artist’s reception on Saturday, October 14, from 5 to 8 p.m. Vetted will include small-scale, steel sculpture. The exhibition will be on view through November 11.

William Cannings spent time in his youth working in automotive shops where he familiarized himself with the tools and equipment needed to support his practice and satisfy his hands-on approach to art making. Today, the artist has mastered an innovative process of working with flat steel and automotive paint. Each finished sculpture looks buoyant despite its heavy material, creating a dichotomy of hard and soft, weightless and hefty. Cannings creates seductive forms and visual trickery that entice, provoke, and demand to be touched.

The work in Vetted takes on a more personal narrative than seen in the recent past. Though he has lived in the United States for 17 years, Cannings just gained final US Citizenship, and while it was not necessarily a conscious decision to focus on this event, many unconscious choices appear in the work, including the exploration of certain literal objects: a boat, popsicle and pistol. Likewise, the choice of certain color schemes and abstract forms harken back to the popular culture of the 1970’s, when the artist was a young child.

William Cannings is originally from Manchester, England and currently lives and works in Lubbock, TX with his wife, also a fine artist, and his two daughters. He received a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA from Syracuse University. He is Professor of Sculpture at Texas Tech University. In 2004, he helped to reinvigorate the Texas Sculpture Symposium, a brand of the Sculpture Network of Texas, where he continues today as an active member.

Cannings exhibits frequently across the United States including in New York, Miami, New Mexico and Texas. He was one of four artists chosen for a solo exhibition at the 2009 Texas Biennial. His works are seen publically in the permanent collection of the new William P. Clements, Jr. Hospital at UTSW Medical Center in Dallas, TX. Likewise, he is featured in the canonical publication, Texas Artists’ Today.

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