INSIDE OUT: CARL JOE WILLIAMS: ‘A GIANT AMONG US’
“I do believe you can build a career in your own city, but you really have to keep reaching out and building relationships beyond your usual circle—especially with major art hubs like LA, Chicago, Canada, Europe, NYC, and so on. If you stay in a small place, you’ll end up running in circles, but the more you expand your reach, the more opportunities you’ll find.”
In the space I occupy as an artist, curator, art dealer, gallerist, and book & magazine publisher, I receive annually hundreds of artist submissions. Not to mention all the galleries, art fairs, and museums I visit worldwide.
When I see an artist’s artwork, either as a .jpeg, website, on view at a gallery or museum, I know who’s an imitator, who’s derivative, who shows promise, who’s special, and who is a master or on the trajectory of mastery: an artist with a signature, redefining the medium, who will stand the test of time.
Carl Joe Williams from New Orleans, Louisiana is that master, and he is in the rare company of noted living artists Henry Taylor, Kehinde Wiley, Amy Sherald, Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas, Faith Ringgold, and Deborah Roberts.
I am a champion of “great” artists that should be exhibited, recognized, celebrated, documented, and collected by collectors and museums, preserving the artist’s significant works of art. It is my job and life work to inform, educate, and influence the world about Carl Joe Williams. He is one of the greatest living artists of the twenty-first century and he lives and works in New Orleans, and I am fortunate to be in the room with his genius.
Mr. Williams, who is currently enrolled in the highly regarded Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has agreed to talk about his work.
Read Full ARTICLE by Terrence Sanders-Smith in the WINTER issue.
Street Date: Tuesday December 9th 2025
Terrence Sanders-Smith
Terrence Sanders-Smith has contributed to the landscape of contemporary art as an artist, gallerist, curator, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Artvoices Magazine, Turnstile Magazine, Art Thug Magazine (ATM) and Artvoices Books.
