Cedric Williams is interested in observing the ways in which buildings, surfaces, and structures change once they become abandoned and cease to have a socio-economic function. The process of erosion can affect structures in different ways. The accumulation of organic matter provides a basis for the growth of plants and trees, roots begin to undermine the structures, metals begin to rust/oxidize, and slowly the original form of the structures is transformed. If left, the structures eventually crumble. Williams has always used photographs and paintings to periodically catalogue the decay of the different sites that have interested him. However, over the last few years, he has begun to explore the possibilities of utilizing the photographic images not just as framed works that can be exhibited, but placed in “settings” that are compatible with the images.
This has involved introducing a variety of different methods and materials in his work that are created in the studio. Working on wood panels or heavy weight card/vellum as his base, Williams uses plaster, sand and gravel, dried roots, and simulated “distressed” materials to gain texture and depth, as well as dried organic materials and found objects, sometimes from the actual sites. In this way, he begins to build an “environment” that supports the photographic images used. He will use certain photographs or combinations of photographs repeatedly in order to explore different “environments” or settings for them. However, he does not attempt to form a narrative link between the photographic images and the associated materials. The materials used are to be regarded as an extension of the images; their reference indicating the more diverse processes of aging and decay.
For his show at the Montpelier Arts Center, Williams has chosen a series of works dealing with the decaying Konterra Cement Plant in Kensington, Maryland, which was closed in 2001. He discovered the factory in 2004, prior to its subsequent demolition. Over the next year, he made numerous visits to the site, taking photographs during the winter and summer. At this time, as the site was in disuse, the structures were beginning to decay, and so the site became an ideal subject for him to focus on. Williams uses photographs as the basis for his work and, in some cases, materials found at the site, to create artworks that become an assemblage of materials that provide texture and depth.
