About

William Johns is an Australian Neo-Surrealist Artist. Working primarily in oil and graphite, William explores interpersonal, societal and internal relationships in a post feminist world. Questioning the concepts of gender roles, duty, obligation, faith, ethics, creativity and truth, his work examines, challenges and reinterprets the notions of tradition and the structures upon which we build our lives and construct ourselves.

William is from South Australia and has been a professional Visual Artist for over 20 years, he has exhibited in galleries in multiple countries and has work in private collections all around the world.




”Upon the first glance at a William Johns painting, the viewer is captivated by the brilliant beauty of the piece, the fantastic composition, the richness of the colors and the masterful precision of the brushwork. The attention to detail in every element is impressive. But there is more to this than the obvious beauty. William Johns explores the post twentieth century world. He explores the new roles for both genders, new ethics, the meaning of work and changes in family structures. The paintings ask questions.”

~ Bettie Mitchell - Gallery 444



”Johns’ surrealist like fantastical compositions are highly complex, remarkable in form, depth and narrative. Johns’ subject matter leaves him consumed with the deconstruction and theorizing of the modern day male dilemma. Exploring the blurred line within post 20th century gender identification; equality v’s inequality, power v’s the absence of power. The ever present yet conflicting sliding position which the male figure finds himself in and alongside the continual reinvention of the female identity as roles merge and un-merge within the fragile relationship and family, work and life balance.”

~Yolanda del Valle-Buetefuer - Red Opus

“a naked Woman tied to a chair, pulling against her restraints in a tense, semi-aggressive stance, as a faceless man on one knee offers her a neck-tie - recalling, perhaps, Freud’s assertion that the neck-tie is a phallic symbol. It is the puzzling ambiguity of the scene that gives it its special quality”

~Desmond Morris - on “A foot next to my leg”
Postures - Body Language in Art