A nude figure with frazzled hair lies in bed, sickly colored linens draped carelessly across their upper body. With fingertips glowing red as if inflamed, the character grasps a navy phone and stares catatonically at the screen. Hovering above this hyper-modern tableau is a vibrant infinity symbol, superimposed onto the scene as endless loops of energy and mesmerizing digital hypnosis radiating directly from the device.
This all-too-relatable portrait is just one piece of a compelling suite of new works by Brooklyn-based artist Robin F. Williams. Through her latest exhibition, Williams captures the omnipotent techno-dystopia that contemporary society collectively seems to be barreling toward. Extrapolating wildly on the ways humanity and machines continue to merge, the artist presents a mystical, haunting vision of another world—one richly infused with the enduring iconography of pop culture and the deep-seated traditions of art history.
Williams has built a reputation for dissecting contemporary anxieties through a distinctly figurative lens, and her latest body of work deepens this investigation. Under the fittingly ironic title Act Natural, the collection plunges headfirst into the uncanny without ever settling comfortably into the strange state of affairs she depicts. The too-sleek, frictionless digital world portrayed across these canvases exudes both the seductive allure of modern technology and the immense, quiet horror it elicits from the human psyche.
Among the standout pieces in the exhibition is "The Merminator," a striking oil-on-linen work measuring 60 by 40 inches. The painting brilliantly combines two iconic pop-culture archetypes of the 1980s: the relentless cyborg assassin and the classic Disney princess. The result is a surreal, metallic bot perched solemnly on a stone. Like Hans Christian Andersen’s original mermaid or Disney’s animated Ariel, the creature peers longingly toward a world it desires to be a part of, while simultaneously carrying the haunting implication that it will never truly belong or find acceptance there.
Another striking canvas is "I Am Not a Robot," a meticulously symmetric piece that borrows heavily in both composition and color palette from the pioneering spiritualist abstractions of Hilma af Klint. At the same time, the painting draws rich visual inspiration from Sandro Botticelli’s Renaissance masterpiece, Madonna of the Pomegranate. In Botticelli’s original work, the titular fruit is presented as a poignant visual metaphor for the human heart and divine love. In Williams’s modern iteration, however, the human heart is entirely replaced by the smartphone. The device glows brightly, radiating an unnatural, hypnotic light outward in place of the traditional, life-giving source.
The exhibition also features works like "Holy Thirst Trap," a 42-by-30-inch oil on linen depicting a trio of ethereal blue figures huddled together to drink from a shared glass, and "Language Model," a 60-by-54-inch oil on canvas presenting a nude figure kneeling on a beach with an arched back in a rich palette of deep reds and purples. Additional pieces like "Spooky Action at a Distance" and the detailed intricacies of "Infinite Scroll" further expand on these themes, blending classical figurative painting techniques with the hyper-contemporary anxieties of algorithms, artificial intelligence, and digital dependency.
For art enthusiasts and collectors wishing to experience the collection in person, P·P·O·W gallery is presenting Act Natural as a special pop-up exhibition at Frieze’s No. 9 Cork Street location in London. The exhibition is open to the public through October 24, offering international audiences a rare chance to witness how one of contemporary painting’s sharpest observers is processing the digital age. Those unable to make the trip to London can explore more of Williams’s ongoing projects, studio process, and previous works by visiting her official website or following her updates on Instagram.
