‘They came via the gift shop after peeling back the security shutter. From the recently upgraded security cameras (the old ones had become totally blind after years of staring at bright white walls), the Director could see that the intruders had browsed briefly before they started smashing things up. She shook her head quietly as large shrink-wrapped exhibition catalogues were thrown across the shop, smashing into works for sale on the shelves, sending fragments and splinters of ceramic and coloured glass across the floor.’ – Bedwyr Williams, ‘The Militia’

We are excited to invite audiences to the public opening of our next exhibition, MILQUETOAST, from 10am on Saturday 24^th July.

This major new body of work by Welsh artist Bedwyr Williams interrogates the role of the art institution within contemporary society.

Sculpture, video, painting and drawing feature in the exhibition. Using this variety of media, Williams parodies fetishistic architectural motifs and bureaucratic hierarchies appropriated within the culture sector.

The exhibition is accompanied by a new publication of Williams’ notorious and habitual drawing practice, designed by Pagemasters published by Southwark Park Galleries.

This publication is made possible by the generous support of the Arts Council of Wales through funds derived from the National Lottery.

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‘A champion of the arts in North Wales’

Bedwyr Williams said: “… you’re not supposed to make work about being an artist but I can’t help it. I still find it such an odd environment. The hyperbole, the raptures, the backtracking, the misfires. The way artists talk to and about each other both online and offline. It’s all odd, and nothing in my childhood prepared me for being around people like this in buildings like this”

Councillor Hugh Jones said: “Bedwyr Williams is a rightly celebrated artist and a champion of the arts in North Wales. The humour in his work will bring a much needed lightness to the lives of our audiences and we are delighted to be exhibiting his work in Wrexham.”

“MILQUETOAST will be the blockbuster exhibition our audiences need this summer as we continue to welcome more people back into the galleries at Tŷ Pawb.”

MILQUETOAST is a Southwark Park Galleries touring exhibition in partnership with Tŷ Pawb and Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

MILQUETOAST is supported by the Arts Council of Wales, The Colwinston Charitable Trust, The Paul and Louise Cooke Endowment, Arts Council England, Southwark Council, Omni Colour, Wrexham County Borough Council, Aberystwyth University, Ceredigion County Council and Theatrum Mundi.

The short story ‘The Militia’ was commissioned by Theatrum Mundi for ‘Concrete and Ink: Storytelling and the Future and Architecture’, published by nai010 in 2021.

Bedwyr Williams is represented by Southard Reid, London.

Biography

Bedwyr Williams lives and works in North Wales. Solo exhibitions include ‘Foundation of things to Come’, Fondazione Sandretto de Rebaudengo, Turin, ‘The Gulch’, The Curve, Barbican Art Centre, 2016 ‘The Starry Messenger’, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 2015, ‘Echt’, Tramway, Glasgow, 2014 ‘My Bad’, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK. Recent group exhibitions include ‘Annwn’, Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham, 2021; ‘Adapt to Survive: Notes from the Future’, Hayward Gallery, London, 2018; ‘The Land We Live in – The Land We Left Behind’, Hauser and Wirth Somerset, 2018; ‘Stress Field’, Hubei Museum of Art, China. In 2013 he represented Wales at the Venice Biennale and was shortlisted for the Artes Mundi Prize in 2016.