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File #: 060815    Version: 0 Name:
Type: Resolution Status: ADOPTED
File created: 10/26/2006 In control: CITY COUNCIL
On agenda: Final action: 10/26/2006
Title: Welcoming Mr. Billy Dee Williams as a featured artist to the Philadelphia International Art Expo presented by October Gallery from November 10th -12th.
Sponsors: Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Kelly, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Kenney, Councilmember Krajewski
Attachments: 1. Resolution No. 06081500.pdf
Title
Welcoming Mr. Billy Dee Williams as a featured artist to the Philadelphia International Art Expo presented by October Gallery from November 10th -12th.
Body
WHEREAS, Billy Dee Williams grew up in Harlem, New York, where he began to actively pursue his artistic abilities and fostering an enthusiasm for all forms of cultural expression; and

WHEREAS, Beginning his career at an early age helped Mr. Williams earn a scholarship to the National Academy of Fine Arts and Design in New York, where he studied classical principles of painting; and

WHEREAS, His paintings explore the architecture of dreams and emotions, the mysterious qualities of the human experience that move in subtle currents under the surface of everyday life, by depicting images rendered in a figurative style that bridge the visible world to the here and now with the invisible terrain of feelings and imagination; and

WHEREAS, His large scale works brim with tension of movement that is achieved through the use of dramatic perspective and a cinematically inspired flair of nuance that underscores the dreamy ambience of his compositions which stem from the people he has met, situations he has lived, and sometimes characters he doesn't know, but whose peculiar appearance or behavior has caught his eye; and

WHEREAS, Working extensively in both television and film, Billy Dee Williams in 1988 renewed his enthusiasm for painting during an acting appearance which prompted him to participate in numerous solo art exhibitions across America and donating paintings to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.; and

WHEREAS, His return to the New York stage with Fences provided an opportunity for him to go back to his home and the center of the art scene, and awakened the painter in him causing him to travel to California with a new enthusiasm and a wealth of ideas for his original means or artistic expression, completing one-hundred and twenty works within two years; and

WHEREAS, His ...

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