​About 

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William Masters is an abstract painter whose work explores cycles of breakdown and rebuilding—how things fall apart, and how meaning can emerge from that process. His paintings are shaped by repetition, layering, and erasure, reflecting an interest in time, memory, and transformation.

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Raised in a family marked by both loss and survival, William has long been aware of how personal history quietly shapes identity. Over time, this awareness led him away from traditional representation and toward a more process-driven approach to painting. He works intuitively, building, scraping back, and reworking the surface, allowing each painting to evolve slowly—like uncovering something buried rather than constructing a fixed image.

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He is currently a resident artist at Project 14C in the Powerhouse Arts District in Jersey City, where he maintains a live/work studio practice. In 2026, William was awarded the Art on the Block NYC Art and Engagement Fellowship, a community-engaged program supporting professional development and public-facing work. He completed the Advanced Painting Intensive at Columbia University in 2025 and earned his BFA in Painting from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis (2023), where he was awarded the Eda L. and Clarence C. Cushing Memorial Prize for excellence in painting. His training also includes residencies at Vermont Studio Center, the New York Academy of Art, and South Porch Artists Residency, as well as study at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence and the Art Students League of New York. 

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Exhibitions include the LeRoy Neiman Gallery in NYC (2025); 150 Bay Artists Group Exhibition | Art Fair 14C (Jersey City) (2025); the 61st Annual Juried Competition at the Masur Museum of Art (2024); the New York Academy of Art (2024) and several juried shows with the Maryland Federation of Art, including Reflecting (main gallery) (2025), Light and Shadow (Curve Gallery) (2025), and Strokes of Genius (Circle Gallery) (2024). His work has also been featured in Symphony of Colors at the Martha Spak Gallery, Dove in the Bunker and What is WARGAP, TARGAP at the Des Lee Gallery in St. Louis and is on permanent display at Weill-Cornell Medical Center in New York City.