Born in Sumter, SC 1963.

Thirty-one years after graduating from the University of South Carolina with a BFA in Studio Art, Mike Williams has become one of the South’s most acclaimed visual artists. An avid outdoorsman who grew up hunting and fishing, the Sumter, SC native identifies with the natural world. It’s the “Fish Paintings” that have garnered him so much attention, pulsating as metaphors for life; but the ethereal, watery landscapes clearly reveal the artist’s mystical sensibilities.

Williams is an artist who has managed to create a style that serves as a synthesis between the representational world of tradition and the emotional world explored by “modern” abstract painters. His work is lyrical and visually intriguing.

Manipulation of the painted surface to achieve space and form has always been critical to Williams but spontaneity is the heartbeat of this artist’s work. While adhering to subjects he knows and holds dear; the South Carolina swamps, marshes, barrier islands, and marine life, he is able to depict his subjects with an emotional connection unlike any other.

Mike and his wife Elizabeth have a son and a daughter, and live in Columbia, SC.

Education: University of South Carolina BFA Studio Art 1990

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