Cris Worley Fine Arts is pleased to announce, Suspense of Disbelief, a solo exhibition of new works by gallery artist William Cannings. This is Cannings’s 10th solo exhibition with Cris Worley. The exhibition will run from January 10th – February 14th with an opening reception on Saturday, January 10th from 5-7pm. The artist will be in attendance.
William Cannings: Suspense of Disbelief marks a pivotal moment in the artist’s more than twenty-year career, bringing together conceptual inquiry, representational references, and innovative abstract forms developed across multiple phases of his practice. Drawing its title from the literary trope, the exhibition invites viewers to temporarily set aside expectations of material behavior and instead encounter steel as pliant, buoyant, and deceptively light.
Cannings is renowned for his masterful manipulation of steel using heat and air—an inventive process that transforms an industrial material into inflated forms that appear swollen, soft, and nearly weightless. Each sculpture operates in a state of tension, balancing hardness and vulnerability, mass and levity, precision and seduction. Surface is central to this experience: creased, burnished, and animated by process, the works draw the viewer in before revealing the labor and control that underpin their illusion.
Process lies at the core of Cannings’ practice and is inseparable from his dedication to teaching. A professor of sculpture at Texas Tech University for over twenty years, he is deeply committed to craft, technical fluency, and working with one’s hands. His early experience in automotive shops fostered a command of tools and industrial processes that continues to shape his approach today. Suspense of Disbelief stands as both a culmination of this material investigation and a reaffirmation of the artist’s belief in making as a form of thinking.
William Cannings (b. 1970) is originally from Manchester, England and lives and works in Lubbock, Texas with his wife, artist Shannon Cannings. He received a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA from Syracuse University. Cannings is Professor of Sculpture at Texas Tech University, where he has taught for over two decades.
Cannings exhibits widely throughout the United States, with exhibitions in New York, Miami, New Mexico, and across Texas. His work is represented in numerous prominent public collections and has been realized through major public art commissions, including a large-scale permanent installation at Gate 51 of Hobby Airport in Houston and a monumental outdoor sculpture at the Hall Sculpture Walk at the Hall Arts Hotel in downtown Dallas. Additional permanent installations can be found at the William P. Clements, Jr. Hospital at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and the HOLT CAT Headquarters in San Antonio.
In 2009, Cannings was selected as one of four artists for a solo exhibition at the Texas Biennial, receiving critical acclaim in Art in America. His work is also featured prominently in the canonical publication Texas Artists Today, written by Catherine Anspon.
Cris Worley Fine Arts is a Dallas, Texas based contemporary art gallery located in the Dallas Design District. With nearly 25 years’ experience, Cris Worley is dedicated to promoting innovative work by contemporary artists at various stages of their careers.