ABOUT WILL
Abstraction is not usually the means by which artists tell a story, but Will Day approaches his canvases as an opportunity to bring forth a story in the moment and not as a sequence of events. Many of his paintings have been commissioned, and for each he tries to connect to and relay the inner narrative of his patron. This has generated a body of work characterized by individual instances rather than series work with permutations of one concept or theme. Yet there is continuity to be found in his process of building a painting and experimenting with tools and techniques of applying his oils and acrylics.
With various surfaces serving as a field of operations, Day creates textures and complex layers which enables him to discover new relationships within each composition. Working on multiple paintings at the same time in his Boulder, Colorado studio, he reaches for an emotional power based in grand design that yet defies limits, which Day believes he attains through grace.
A reader of Joseph Campbell, he, in essence, enters each work as a path through the unknown to a self-overcoming experience. Considering himself a doer, it is the act of painting that drives each painting to where it wants to be. Day starts with a lone mark. Then he struggles with and relents to the viscous material accepting and resisting, using color as some sort of otherworldly force that aligns with or bursts out of the emerging configuration. As a youth, he was a spirited athlete and player of many sports, and so his natural inclination is expression through physicality, but now it is the means by which he seeks a higher power to tell a soul’s tale.
Stephanie Grilli
Ph.D Yale University
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
”RENEWAL” - Maune Contemporary, Atlanta, GA
2024
“RELENTLESS” - THE ST. JULIEN Gallery, Boulder, CO
“QUIET RESOLVE” - M Atelier Gallery, Boulder, CO
”NEW EARTH SERIES” - Emily Fischer Art Gallery - Cushing Academy, Ashburnham, MA
2023
"LOVE LETTERS” - Mosaic Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
”VIVID DELIGHTS” - The Gallery at Windsor, Vero Beach, FL
2022
"BREAKOUT - LOOKING BEYOND OURSELVES” - Boulder, CO
"DREAMSCAPES” - The Colorado Landmark Gallery, Boulder, CO
2021
"PAINTINGS FROM ABOVE” - Unicom Capital Art Gallery, Denver, CO
2020
"THE HOPE SERIES - CREATIVITY IN UNCERTAINTY” - Black Lab Art Gallery, Boulder, CO
2019
"THE WONDER SERIES - ART MEETS POETRY “ - Black Lab Art Gallery, Boulder, CO
2018
“CONVERSATIONS IN ABSTRACTION” (JURIED SHOW) - Messinger Art Gallery, Boulder Jewish Community Center, Boulder, CO
“TRUTH & BEING” - Black Lab Art Gallery, Boulder, CO
2017
“NOIR ET BLANC” - The MAX Fashion Gallery, Boulder, CO
“EXALTATION” - The McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016
“SUPER BOWL 50” - The MAXIM PARTY, San Francisco, CA
2015
“ART MIAMI WYNWOOD” - The McLoughlin Gallery, Miami, FL
“ART FROM 71 ABOVE” - US Bank Tower Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014
“AWAKENING THE CREATIVE SPIRIT” - Anam Cara Gallery, Greenwich CT
“FREEDOM TO LIVE” (JURIED SHOW) - Cushing Academy Art Gallery, Ashburnham, MA
”PATHWAYS TO ABSTRACTION” - Osmosis Gallery, Niwot, CO
2013
“ETHEREAL LANDSCAPES” - The Remsenburg Art Academy, Remsenburg, NY
”NEW HORIZONS” - Anam Cara Gallery, Greenwich, CT
2012
“CITY OF ANGELS” - INSPIRED COLLECTION - The Desmond Building Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011
“THE JOURNEY COLLECTION” - Make-A-Wish, Houston, TX
“OPENING DOORS” - K. Saari Gallery, Steamboat Springs, CO
2010
“SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS” - Osmosis Gallery, Niwot, CO
“BEGINNINGS” - K. Saari Gallery, Steamboat, CO
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & ART FAIRS
2023
”ART + LOVE COLLIDE” (JURIED SHOW) - There With Care Foundation, Boulder, CO
”SANTA BARBARA DOWNTOWN ART TOUR” - Mosaic Architects, Santa Barbara, CA
2022
”ART OF THE STATE 2022” (JURIED SHOW) - Arvada Arts Center, Arvada, CO
2021
”IT’S PERSONAL” - Center for the Arts Evergreen, Evergreen, CO
”VIRAL INFLUENCE IN TIME OF CORONAVIRUS” (JURIED SHOW) - Arvada Arts Center, Arvada, CO
"THE ERA OF CHANGE” (JURIED SHOW)- The Visionary Projects, New York, NY
"LOUD/FAST” (JURIED SHOW) - Bell Projects Art Gallery, Denver, CO
2019
"THE MODERN HABITAT” (JURIED SHOW) - BUILDING ENERGETIC SPACES - The Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, CO
2018
“ART PALM SPRINGS” - The McLoughlin Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
“UPSTART MEMORIES” - Black Lab Art Gallery, Boulder, CO
2017
“SOFA CHICAGO” (JURIED SHOW) - The McLoughlin Gallery, Chicago, IL
“ARCHITECTURE & ABSTRACTION,” The GENSLER Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“ART ASPEN,” - The McLoughlin Gallery, Aspen, CO
2016
“ART SAN FRANCISCO” - Fort Mason, The McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco, CA
”FOUR PILLARS of ABSTRACTION” (JURIED SHOW) - AKA Gallery, Boulder, CO
2015
“ART HAMPTONS” - The McLoughlin Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
“ART ASPEN” - The McLoughlin Gallery, Aspen, CO
”ABSTRACT & READY TO PLAY” - Rembrandt Yard Art Gallery, Boulder, CO
2014
”OPEN STUDIOS” (JURIED SHOW), Fall Tour - Boulder, CO
2013
”GEOMETRY SATELLITE,-UNEXPECTED LINES” (JURIED SHOW) - K. Saari Gallery, Steamboat Springs, CO
2012
”VISIONS of COLORADO” (JURIED SHOW) - The FOUR SEASONS HOTEL, Denver CO
2010
”COLOR MEETS POETRY” (MIAMI ART BASEL) - Hibiscus Street Art Gallery, Miami, FL
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
2023
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER - Daniels College of Business & Entrepreneurship, Denver, CO
2021
CENTER FOR THE ARTS EVERGREEN - “ITS PERSONAL,” Evergreen, CO
2019
TEDxCU (TED TALK) - “FINDING CREATIVITY IN THE CHAOS,” Boulder, CO
HACH (Danaher Corporation) Innovation and Creativity Panel - Denver, CO
2017
GENSLER ARCHITECTURE - “ART MEETS ARCHITECTURE,” San Francisco CA
2016
CUSHING ACADEMY - 141st COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS (Class of 2016), Ashburnham, MA
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ART - “THERE ARE NO STRAIGHT LINES,” Delaware, OH
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
THE US PEACE CORPS - TUNISIA, NORTH AFRICA
EDUCATION
PRATT Institute, New York City, NY – Masters in Architecture
OHIO WESLEYAN University, Delaware, OH – Bachelor of Arts
TRINITY COLLEGE, Dublin, Ireland
L’Ecole Commerciale de la Chambre de Commerce et D'industrie Paris, France
CUSHING ACADEMY, Ashburnham, MA
BIOGRAPHY
b. 1971, NEW YORK CITY
William Day is an American painter known for his abstract compositions featuring colorful shapes, energetic marks and movement, and intriguing surfaces. Originally from New York and now living in Boulder, Colorado, Day can often be found in his studio working on multiple pieces at the same time. His process leads him to create paintings in series, each focusing on different nuances of the human experience. His works are comprised of textures and complex layers demonstrating his interaction with a canvas in a moment. These series of paintings all nod to certain periods of Day’s life that bring years of intensity, joy, spirituality, conflict and resolution to the canvas.
Exploring expression in a range of sizes, Day begins each new work by rolling unprimed raw canvas out on the floor. Primarily working with oil and acrylics, he creates textures and layers with various tools, discovering relationships between the colors and the unexpected structures. His monumental paintings, which tower above their viewers, are monoliths of creative freedom projecting to the world Day’s belief in the sublime powers of color and form.
Inspired by hope and beauty, burgeoned by his own personal struggles, Day is an artist whose eyes are fixed firmly on the horizon. After September 11th 2001, when Day’s wife Aimee, survived the collapse of the World Trade Towers, Day left a career in finance and studied architecture at PRATT Institute, which ultimately lead him to becoming a painter. His architectural impulsivity carried over into his style of painting with expressive actions of manipulating his implements, often those associated with construction.
Day’s work has been published in LUXE Magazine, FORBES.com, WHITEHOT Magazine, STIR WORLD Magazine, TAINTED Magazine, 5280 Magazine and he has been a TEDx Speaker. His art is featured in both private and public collections throughout the United States, Europe and North Africa and has been exhibited in galleries in New York, NY, Greenwich, CT, Boulder, CO, Miami, FL, Santa Barbara, CA, and Atlanta, GA.