about
williamCromar is an artist and educator based in Philadelphia. He hybridizes a peculiar blend of architecture, music, animation and art-making into a unique body of sculptural and installation art. Through such work, he develops paradoxical manifestations of the human need for (despite the futility in) finding or inventing order. He began this exploration as one of three collaborators who received a Silver Medal at the International Biennial of Architecture in Sofia, Bulgaria for the animated film order through geometry. They produced this film with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was later awarded an exhibition in the Samuel Fleisher Art Memorial’s Challenge Exhibitions, a prestigious regional competition sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. At this same time, the Pew Foundation considered the artist as a Finalist for the Fellowship in the Arts.
His solo exhibitions include halfwayhouse, an installation at Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art sponsored by inLiquid.com, and redrain at aFSe Gallery in Philadelphia. He recently renovated a long-term installation at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, titled gtmo, which is currently on view. He collaborated with DesignPhiladelphia in the exhibition 4/4 at Michelle Liao Collection with his first projection, see d’. His most recent solo venture, la trahison des signes, is on view at the National Liberty Museum through mid-2023.
In 2008, he cofounded TangenT ArT CollaboraTive with Yvonne Love and Gabrielle Russomagno. This group created mixed-media, project-based, immersive art environments exploring socially relevant and politically current themes through transcendent metaphor. They enjoyed exhibiting in non-traditional venues like the HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) Conference in New York. TangenT deliberately sought unusual publicly accessible spaces, such as International House Philadelphia, which hosted the multi-media work 709b in 2012. TangenT’s most ambitious project, RedAct, culminated in a major installation at Crane Arts in Philadelphia. This work was funded in part by a grant from the Barra Foundation in 2016. Like so many ventures, TangenT fell prey to the COVID-19 lockdown, and the group disbanded during the pandemic.
Since then, williamCromar has focused on works that involve cutting-edge digital expression. These works connect fabrication and web design with art history and current social phenomena. Notable examples of this genre include the continuous profile (head of drumpf), featured in Art in America. Some works, such as the multimedia meme n to ma ga m or i, combine expressions into a transmedia narrative.
As an artist, designer, and educator, he has exhibited nationwide, freelanced as a model-making consultant, and taught at the University of Pennsylvania. He later served as Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at Philadelphia University. At that time he was also a visiting critic at Wesleyan University. More recently, he chaired the Penn State Abington College Art Program from 2012—2018. Currently, he directs the Abington College MakerSpace and teaches new media art, encouraging emerging artists to create senseless acts of beauty on the Macintosh. He also collaborates internationally with the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of the University of Dundee in Scotland. His kilt is a Clan Farquharson Ancient tartan.
