Memo

Til Will

June 25th - June 28th, 2024

Opening reception Thursday, June 25th 3-6pm.

Produced by BravinLee Programs

Artport Kingston

80 Smith Avenue, Kingston, NY 12401

Memo is a solo exhibition by Til Will, unfolding both inside and outside the artist’s 2003 Subaru Outback.

In a little Mead Memo pocketbook, Dr. Tom Rulon kept a running record of every time he got gas in this car since buying it new, including date, location, mileage, price, cost, and amount (gal). Will regards the book as a durational artwork—a story of the car’s life, and his Grandpa’s, in numbers. Since owning the car in 2025, the artist has continued the tradition to log every fill-up, and intends to do so until the notebook is full. 

Tom Rulon’s gas log is a perfect echo of the studio practice. Make the entry, show up, do the thing, believe that it matters. 

Memo features 10 new paintings, all analyzing the artist’s close encounter with a bison herd in Wyoming, which he later interpreted as a visitation from Dr. Tom’s spirit, stopping for a routine maintenance checkup on the Subaru. For Will it’s an obvious connection, because the bison was his grandfather’s icon—Rulon was a lifelong connoisseur of western landscape paintings, and several he had hanging featured the animals. He often wore the Charles M. Russell signature bison skull logo, and even had one installed above his garage door. Will’s site-specific paintings attempt to eulogize his grandfather and celebrate his revered subject at the same time, reflecting on his sense of care and maintenance. 

Several paintings lean against the car acting as lo-fi trompe l’oeil portals while others occupy a diorama produced in collaboration with Bob’s gallery. The gas log has been printed as a limited edition xerox zine with added illustrations and an essay by the artist. The show also features limited edition airbrushed T-shirts, all unique, co-produced by the artist and Bob’s. 

Bio

Til Will is a multidisciplinary artist and producer based in New York. He keeps a studio practice that involves painting, digital animation, and music production. He is currently the co-organizer of Watercolour Society, a community art project that includes freeform drawing meetups as well as pop-up exhibitions. He recently co-curated Homebodies at 334 Broome as well as Trading Cards III at Field of Play Gallery with Paz Rocio Mallea. He also records and performs music under the moniker Immortal Wound with Paz Rocio Mallea. He is the co-creator of PilMawilla, which has produced animated music videos and motion graphics since 2021. Will founded Open House, a curatorial project space that hosted exhibitions and published criticism as well as artist interviews online from 2015-2018. His writing has been featured in Two Coats of Paintas well asFlat Rate Contemporaryand Field of Play. He participated with Open House as a curator in Spring/Break Art Show in 2017 and 2018. In October of 2018, he was given a residency at Utopia 126 in Barcelona. Recently Will has shown paintings with Bob’s Gallery at Stay Frosty Kingston, Field of Play Gallery, Hesse Flatow, and 334 Broome.