William
Hundley (born 1976) is an American artist born in St.
Paul, Minnesota. He lives and works in Austin, Texas.
In
2006 he began an ongoing series of photographs that he titled
“Entoptic Phenomena” in which he photographs people jumping
underneath fabrics and other various materials. The instant of the
jump can be thought of as super ephemeral sculpture, lasting only a
few seconds before reverting to their base components. The resulting
photographs appear to have been made by computer manipulation, but
Hundley stresses that “they are just photographs” and that there
were absolutely no computer applications used in creating the images.
He goes on to say that having “acrobatic models” is the key to
the success of the imagery. A few of his "Entoptic Phenomena"
photographs were featured in the 2007 Texas Biennial in which he was
awarded the Juror’s Choice Award.
In
2008 he started a new series of photographs “w/ cheeseburgers”
that went on to become wildly popular or “viral” on the internet,
primarily due to the photograph “Chihuahua on Cheeseburgers”.
Another
series of photographs, entitled “Little Naked Person Storage,”
consists of photographs of naked people hiding in various places
around the average American household.
In an
article on Sight Unseen, Hundley is quoted as saying, “My work
started with the influence of Erwin Wurm and Maurizio
Cattelan, these absurdists. I love the practical-joke nature of it;
if I can make humor and beautiful aesthetics come together, that’s
the biggest powerhouse I can imagine.”
His
photography has been featured in numerous publications and countless
blogs and websites. In 2007 Hundley was nominated for Best
Artist in the Austin Critics Table Awards.
Though
not initially mentioned in the credits, a few of his ideas were
re-created in the music video “Heaven Can Wait” by Charlotte
Gainsbourg featuring Beck. Eventually the director, Keith
Schofield, contacted Hundley to apologize for not crediting his work
as “inspiration” for portions of the video.
Although
most widely known for his photography, Hundley’s work also includes
sculptures and installation and has been exhibited across the US and
in Berlin. Recent works have focused on assembled collages and a
series of tribal inspired masks with the idea of gathering objects
from contemporary culture and using them in a “tribal” way.
He
recently contributed to the TEDx event in Austin, TX in
February 2011.
In
2011, a Hundley photograph is to be published in Adbusters magazine
and he will also have an exhibition at Show & Tell
Gallery in Toronto, Canada.
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