Thomas Foster reviews Dawn Chorus, an exhibition of live gig sketches by local artist Keith Williams, which opened at the Wood Street Bear on Wednesday 28th October
In a world where every performance is documented in low-quality phone footage, Keith Williams has expertly captured the energy of live music in ink on paper. His exhibition Dawn Chorus opened at the Wood Street Bear on Wednesday 28th October.
Williams is a local artist who, over the last two years, has created over 1,000 sketches from almost 200 gigs. Displayed amongst the bar’s retro decor, his artwork often prioritises capturing the crowd and space over the musicians. In one drawing of a performance by The Horrors, the band is demoted to a silhouette whilst the audience has visible and detailed faces.
This work isn’t about drawing famous musicians, it’s about communal experience, and you see a full spectrum of this on display. Drawings of punk gigs feel energetic with more erratic lines. Others bring you into a sedate space with foggy textures and a suggestion that Williams has had more time between sketches to add minute details.
A highlight was browsing Williams’ sketchbooks which are displayed for visitors to peruse. Flicking through, you can watch concerts unfold in moments captured in quick drawings.
Here you sense the immediacy of the artwork, especially as some sketches have been left incomplete so the artist could draw something new happening.
This exhibition demonstrates Williams’ love for grassroots venues. Chatting with him, he explained how the scene is alive as ever.
“There’s a lot of people who think there’s no good bands out there, but there are so many just below the surface. There’s amazing bands playing in back rooms of pubs that 10 years ago would have been playing The Roundhouse.”
It’s true that the current state of the industry makes it more difficult for artists to break into larger circuits, but that isn’t stopping talented performers from making music wherever they can. In this exhibition, Williams offers some of them a small spot in the limelight for us to see.
The first performance he sketched was Idlewild performing in Edinburgh, but he didn’t immediately draw further gigs. Believe it or not, it was an unexpected encounter with a crowd of dogs at Copenhagen Airport, and his instinct to make 150 rapid drawings of them, that inspired him to illustrate more music.
He said: “It made me think of music again because I can’t control what anyone’s doing. I’m not in control of the lighting or atmosphere or what the form is doing. I really wanted to do something immediate where it doesn’t have to be perfect.”
If you’re a fan of live music, then this exhibition is well worth dropping into. And if you’re not yet acquainted with the grassroots scene, perhaps these illustrations will persuade you to explore.
Keep up to date with Keith Williams’ work here
Local news needs your support
We are proud that we were at the forefront of reporting on the recent local elections. We can’t do this without the support of our readers.
Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.
If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.
ACT NOW!
Monthly direct debit
Annual direct debit
£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.
More information on supporting us monthly or annually
More Information about donations
