FEATURED
IMAGE
Above: "New Babel", 2019, augmented reality installation in Union Sq. NYC. More details here. Created in partnership with the New School's XReality Center.
Fall 2019 New Babel is an augmented reality (AR) installation in NYC during Fall 2019. For more information, please see the info page.
June 2019
The painting from the Book of Revelations, "Melt / Down" will be featured in the Limner Gallery (Hudson NY) show entitled "Meltdown" from June 14 - July 13, 2019.
Spring 2018
The poster for the book launch of Diana Ayton-Shenker's (the artist's wife) book, "A New Global Agenda" at the New School in NYC. Art by Ayton, poster design by The New School. See news item below for book details. Ayton did the cover artwork & 3 section-divider drawings for the book.
Spring 2018
The small acrylic painting "It's a Small World" is on the cover of "A New Global Agenda" (Rowman & Littlefield) by Diana Ayton-Shenker (the artist's wife). The book addresses challenges facing our world & possible strategies for dealing with them.
April 2017
The 2010 portrait drawing of Mariah O for Julia Kay's Portrait Party is to be included in the book Portrait Revolution available around April 2017. The book will be available in both US & UK versions.
2016
Spring 2016
The 2012 acrylic on Kraft paper painting, The Rise of the Subhumans will be on show at the Limner Gallery in Hudson NY for the "Emerging Artists" show from March 4 to April 2, 2016. Reception is on Saturday, March 5 from 5-7pm.
2015
Spring 2015
The University of Santa Catarina in Brazil is using the monochrome pencil & ink studies for the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) series in its online course materials. See the UDHRArt.org web site news page for further details.
2014
Fall 2014
Ayton had some new small paintings in the show "Outsider Artists of the Hudson Valley (& Friends)" at the Atwater Art Gallery, Rhinebeck NY in October 2014. To the left is the 2014 painting, "The Outsider (in Red)" which was on display with several other new works.
See
Ayton's most recent works: NEW2020
Gallery.
For the other galleries, please see the navigation links
on the left side of this and almost every page.
Welcome
to the
web site of British artist William T. Ayton (now
resident in Rhinebeck in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York).
The artist's work inhabits the interface between myth, the human
condition, beauty & imagination. Ayton's art has variously
been described as surrealistic, symbolist, mystical, visionary
and expressionistic.
Contact
the artist via e-mail:
If
you wish to inquire about licensing any of the images
on this site for commercial or non-commercial purposes, please
e-mail:
NEW BABEL AR 2019
New Babel AR is Ayton's first augmented reality (AR) installation, in NYC's Union Square Park. Initially installed as part of the New School's 100th Anniversary celebrations, it is the first in a projected series of large-scale outdoor AR installations dealing with social issues. Read more about New Babel here. Created in partnership with the New School's XReality Center.
SOCIO-POLITICAL ARTWORK
Here is a new portfolio of Ayton's socio-political artwork (featuring the UDHR, War Room, Holocaust, and other works of a more political nature).
Image at right is "The Shootist", 2017, acrylic on board, 14" x 11".
THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS , 2019 A series of 52+ paintings on the theme of apocalypse, end of days, regeneration, rise of the new world, etc. Partly inspired by the Book of Revelation by John the Divine. Ayton plans to release this body of work in some form of published (book) format. Please stay tuned for more information. See the entire series on Flickr.
A WARNING, 2016 This
is a series of 24 small monochrome paintings inspired in part by recent political events around the globe, and also intended as a warning for the future. See the entire series on Flickr.
THERE
IS A LAND BEYOND THE SPOKEN WORD, 2012 This
is a 5-panel painting (acrylic on cardboard) depicting many of
the artist's themes and concerns. You can see the individual
panels as well as a higher resolution version on Flickr.
IN
HUMANITY 1991-2011 In
Humanity is a series of ink drawings
which was started around the same time as the UDHR series
(see item below). It consists of around 36 drawings
which focus on challenges and problems that the
human race faces or has created for itself. The
entire series, spanning a period of 20 years,
can be seen on Flickr.
THE
BOOK OF SOULS The
Book of Souls is a collaboration with Tim
Lowly (see also in news section below left)
featuring portraits and other work by Ayton, with photography,
art & Photoshop processing / remixing by Lowly.
Fact
sheet: click here for
the UDHR project description page
(printer-friendly)
The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (U.D.H.R.) was signed
on December 10th, 1948, by the United Nations. In 1991 & 1992,
Ayton did a series of drawings and paintings based on
the UDHR which have been extensively exhibited in Europe
and the USA. Click the image at left or here to
see the UDHR paintings, on a site created specifically
to showcase them, plus the original drawings and a Spanish
version of the paintings created in Seville in 1992. Please
email info@ayton.net if
you are interested in using the UDHR images for appropriate
purposes.
Featuring poems & prose by Katz, & the cover painting ("North America's Skull") & interior ink drawings by William T. Ayton. The book is published by Narcissus Press (Jan. 2009). You can see a preview page here.
MUSEUM ON THE SEAM -
"BARE LIFE"
October
2007 - June 2008 -- The small painting, "Hiroshima:
Ground Zero" (left), as well as several War Room
studies, were in the show, "Bare
Life" at the Museum on the Seam,
in Jerusalem, Israel. Opening was Oct 12th, it ran
until June 2008. Click here to
see the invitation to the show. The show featured 42 artists
from around the world, including Anselm Kiefer, Bruce
Nauman, Bill Viola, Sophie Calle & William
Kentridge. Curator: Raphie
Etgar. Update: the Hiroshima painting apparently remained on show until February 2009.
The
War Room
The War
Room is an anti-war installation of four wall-sized painted
panels by Ayton showing the four faces of war. We
have uninstalled the two versions from sites in New
York
City and Poughkeepsie (September 2004).
Several
of the works on this website have also been on show in
exhibitions
in Washington, DC & Milwaukee, WI, with more shows on
the way. Visit The
War Room.
THE
LIMNER GALLERY
William
T. Ayton is represented in the upstate New York region
by the Limner Gallery of Hudson, NY. The gallery is located
at 123 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534. Phone: 518-828-2343. Click
here for the gallery's home page, and here
for Ayton's artist page on the Limner Gallery web site.
PUBLISHED
ARTWORK
Here is a selected gallery of
published Ayton images—covers,
illustrations, wine labels, and so on, collected in one
place. More images will be added as they appear.
