Mason Williams.
Mason Williams is a Los Angeles based artist who emerged in the late 1960’s as a strong force in television and music circles. He is most widely known as composer of the mega hit Classical Gas, which won three Grammy Awards. As for Mason’s other creative work; television, books, and art, he has written more than 170 hours of network television and was a prime creative force for CBS’ controversial Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Mason has also written and produced over a dozen books of prose, poetry, and music including The Mason Williams Reading Matter, Flavors (Doubleday) and Them Poems (Parallel Press). Warner Bros. recently published a second edition of his music book, Classical Gas – The Music of Mason Williams. That said, in this post I would like to speak about his work in the conceptual art world. Focusing in particular on what is probably his most famous work “BUS” (1967) that is currently on display at David Zwirner Gallery in New York, BUS is a life-sized photographic poster of a Greyhound Bus that was printed on various pieces of billboard paper and then painstakingly hand-assembled by Williams and his friends. The final product was then packaged in a custom printed box and released in an edition of 30. They originally sold for $35.00 a piece. Williams is a childhood friend and longtime collaborator/co-conspirator with Ed Ruscha and one day the two were sitting around their apartment thinking of ideas. Their conversation went something like this, “Isn’t it strange that folks can look at an image of a really big thing reduced in the pages of a magazine, and take it for granted that it’s real? But what if that little reduction of the real thing actually materialized? Like what if a 6-inch long bus suddenly appeared at the curb? Wouldn’t they be amazed?” If you take a look at these photographs you’ll get an idea. I highly suggest you look deeper into the oeuvre of Mason Williams. It goes deep and it’s full of treasures. www.masonwilliams-online.com.
