​Artist Bio 

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William Masters is an abstract painter whose works, often involving sculpture and poetry, draw on his experience with Taoist philosophy to challenge the individualism, materialism and careerism that predominate American culture both historically and today. Inspired by the calls of figures such as Martin Luther King for a "revolution of values" in America, Masters endeavors to be a small part of a much larger mission to find more meaningful, sustainable, and humane ways of making meaning both societally and individually. Born and raised in Washington D.C, a descendant of Holocaust survivors and an avid reader of Eastern and Western philosophical and theological texts, Masters has a lifelong awareness of and intimate connection to the central role reflection plays in shaping our lives and futures.

 

He is currently attending the year-long Project 14C residency in the Powerhouse Arts District in Jersey City. In the summer of 2025 completed the Advanced Painting Intensive at Columbia University. He earned his BFA in studio art with a concentration 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. He has been awarded additional residencies at Vermont Studio Center, the New York Academy of Art, and the South Porch Artists Residency and his studies also include time in Florence, Italy at the SIRSA International School and the Art Students League of New York. 

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​Exhibitions include the 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.