The Painted Song: Art of Wiili Armstrong

Image credit: Wiili Armstrong. Firefly Symphony. Acrylic on canvas. From a private collection.

November 9, 2013 - May 3, 2014

In his own words, Wiili Armstrong was a “junk assembler, a garbage collector … a waking sleeper.” “A regular-kind-of-guy who just happens to know for certain he is an artist.”

And an artist he was. As well as a naturalist. Butterflies and birdsong, dust and stars are woven through his paintings and his poetry. Though Armstrong is often described as an “outsider artist” (meaning he was not formally trained in a specific school of art and his style is highly individualistic), collectors often see in his work echoes of Van Gogh’s Impressionism and Chagall’s Modernism.

William Armstrong was raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and moved to Boone, North Carolina, in 1993, where he lived until his death in 2003. There, he was a prolific poet and artist, working in a variety of media including pen and ink, watercolor, and acrylics. In addition to canvas, he often painted on found objects such as fence posts, hubcaps, ironing boards and eyeglass lenses.

Highly intelligent, Armstrong also struggled with mental illness for much of his life; manic periods and depressions, angels and darkness are reflected in much of his work. Many art collectors and enthusiasts were captivated almost as much by his personality and the stories he told as by his art. Tim Miller of Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery met Armstrong in 1994 and fell in love with his work, featuring many of his paintings in his gallery. Miller collects Armstrong’s work not only for its beauty, but also because the artist’s stories and background give his art great personal meaning.