Robin F. Williams

It’s a hot summer afternoon, and Robin F. Williams is in their Brooklyn studio talking about AI and the Renaissance—no, not some technological renaissance, but the days of Raphael and Botticelli. And, well, that’s where every conversation seems to go now, and both Robin and I laugh about how quickly we got there. Robin was preparing the solo presentation, Act Natural, set to open with PPOW during Frieze London in the fall, and we couldn’t escape the conversation of being human in a world of increasing inhumanity. Why are we so desperate to understand humanity while simultaneously inventing a technology that may make our wonderment obsolete? Though at times tongue-in-cheek and at others biting in their commentary, what consistently comes through, is a painter working out, in real time, why contradiction is the thing that makes the work last.