Although, Mickey Williams has always fancied himself an artist, it wasn’t until he started taking portraits that he knew he had found his medium. Mickey has since fine-tuned his craft into something much more than photography. His work is where graphics and fine art meet, creating an intriguing blend.
“It sounds cliché, but I see things everywhere,” Mickey explains of his inspiration. “The ideas will come to me at times while I am talking to somebody and they are expressing their own style or mannerisms. Sometimes it’s just that I came across a prop that I am drawn too and then I start thinking about the people that could work with it.”
From there, he sets up the scene, stockpiling props to build his vision along the way. Once he has the shot, he pulls the image apart and laces it back together, adding layers of lacquer – sometimes even objects – bringing the image to life.
Mickey’s cryptic portraits and spellbinding, documentary-style photographs display eerily intimate moments. Adorned subjects stare out from their frames as if held there in captivity. Sometimes he uses professional models, but for the most part, Mickey prefers photographing “everyday people.”
Well, there are a handful of characters he would love to place into one of his illuminated worlds: Isabella Rossellini for her amazing beauty, Mick Jagger’s early years, and Frida Kahlo, an inspiration. Mickey wistfully talks about the pull to photograph his children and the heartbreak of seeing time pass so quickly by doing so; a feeling that conceivably gets funneled into his work.
After a hiatus from the camera, Mickey is getting back into photography again. Upon a suggestion of a friend, he is showing his work in our SODO café this month. And he is already dreaming up his next show.
“I am working on having a solo show that would be hung out in the woods in a Seattle park in late September. It would have all the typical aspects of a gallery show, with music and food, but be out under the stars. Could be amazing or a travesty, but that’s half the excitement.”
