Styx & Stones: It’s Raining Fascists
March 25 - April 15, 2023
If you're a fan of art impacting social conversation through powerful imagery, you're sure to be pulled into Norton's dynamic exhibition, Styx and Stones. Using oversized canvases that approach the scale of murals, Norton creates works the viewer inhabits rather than simply observes. His paintings describe political movements while remaining visually engaging and as fluidly unpredictable as current events.
If you boiled down Norton's expansive contribution to art to one word, it would be inclusive. As both an artist and curator, he has consistently highlighted marginalized voices while emphasizing resistance and social awareness within his own work. His solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the Hong Kong protests appears through recurring imagery of hulking police officers casting ominous shadows and umbrellas symbolizing resistance to oppression. Through these symbols, Norton challenges our sense of security and offers a powerful reflection on what it means to be an artist in this moment.
The Hong Kong protests began in 2019 in response to a proposed extradition bill, and symbols such as the umbrella, yellow raincoat, and panda emerged as shorthand for resistance and solidarity. In the United States, the Black Lives Matter movement, founded in 2013 following the killing of Trayvon Martin, gained renewed global attention after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, highlighting the long history of police violence and systemic racism.
This growing trend toward authoritarianism is global. As resources become scarcer and wealth becomes increasingly concentrated, governments and institutions wield greater influence over daily life. Norton draws on these realities to create politically charged work with universal resonance rather than focusing on any one place or event.
In Styx and Stones, the umbrella becomes more than protection from tear gas—it becomes a symbol of collective resistance. The panda, once a tool of diplomacy, takes on new political meaning. The anonymous figure of the militarized police officer, concealed behind helmet and armor, represents the frightening ease with which power can become impersonal, unaccountable, and detached from individual morality.
About the Artist
William Norton is the son of an Air Force Colonel and was initially raised to be a warrior in that tradition, however he rejected that calling for his own as an artist. His artwork has long been focused on investigating the toxic masculinity built into militarized thinking. Fortunate to have been given the opportunity to experience as many diverse cultures, religions and philosophies as he did growing up around the world he has zero tolerance for xenophobia and the supposed hierarchies of one organized religion over another.
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He taught Welded Steel Sculpture at Columbia University for 10 years, was Director of Installation at MoMA/PS1 for over 3 years, was the Director of The PeepShow Space Gallery in Greenpoint for 15 exhibitions and has independently curated 36 exhibitions in the NYC area and Japan. He has exhibited in the US, Germany and Japan, where he recently brought the work of 8 artists from the US to participate in the Kameyama Triennale. He has had recent Solo Exhibitions at the Michael David Gallery and The PeepShow Space Gallery in Brooklyn.
Curated by Wade Bond