Details to show some of the subtle textures, plus framed:

SAN FRANCISCO ART FAIR
April 16-19, 2026

Billis/Williams Gallery 
Booth F06

Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture
2 Marina Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94109
sanfranciscoartfair.com

Please direct all sales inquiries to Tressa Williams: gallery@billiswilliams.com

As a painter I investigate the in-between, seeking transcendence in the everyday. In an era of constant motion and overstimulation, my quiet and spacious oil paintings offer a pause. In this respite, I contemplate notions of attention, stillness, uncertainty and the sublime.

I portray liminal spaces like the view from the parking lot, or the edges of buildings framing the sky. My simplified compositions strip away the visual noise, capturing the luminosity and expansiveness of the skies to evoke spaciousness and nuance.

The repetitive patterns of geometric structures create a rhythmic, meditative visual balm. Revealing more the longer one looks, the subtle color transitions and textured brushstrokes invite viewers to slow down, be present and linger in the details.

Show title comes from the Leonard Cohen song Anthem, which includes the lyric:

There’s a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.

To me, this quote channels both the Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi – which centers on the acceptance of transience and imperfection – and the moral of the story from the excellent children’s picture book The Wump World, written and illustrated by the fantastic Bill Peet. For me, it’s finding a glimmer of hope in the dark*.

I hope you’ll join me to see these laborious and lovingly made-by-hand objects in person in May.

Please contact the gallery directly to get on the Collector Preview list: tressa@billiswilliams.com

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*I’ve been thinking about darkness differently since listening to this podcast episode featuring the poetic and soulful adrienne maree brown.

Billis/Williams Gallery @ Scope Miami Beach
December 2-7, 2025 | Booth E009

The gallery is pleased to present new and historic works from ANA MEDINA, BARBARA STRASEN, BRYAN IDA, CARLA FALB, CHRISTINE RASMUSSEN and KEVIN YAUN.

Please click here to preview online viewing room.

Details to show some of the subtle textures:

THE FEMALE GAZE
April 25-May 24, 2025

Galerie Mokum
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

I’m delighted to have been invited to participate in the third edition of this group show featuring talented artists from around the world. My two paintings on display:

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Featured paintings by Christine Rasmussen:

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Learn about the inspiration behind my painting Sunlight on the Side (Main St) HERE.

“What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.” — Edward Hopper

I can relate. I wanted to paint this strange "corner" - a confluence of mismatched walls and buildings - because I've passed it almost daily for years on my way to my studio, witnessing it change in various lights. The stark white was particularly stunning when lit up by the sun (until one day someone painted the fence a garish green). After years of observation, I finally went about painting my version - a combination of photo reference and memory. While the stark white is what drew me to the scene to begin with, I had much fun with the many-shaded shadows.

I leaned into my interest in color field painting by simplifying the composition and playing with a limited color palette. For the latter, I was inspired by Helen Lundeberg's (mostly) blue and white painting, "Aegean Light" (1973), which stopped me in my tracks while perusing one of the galleries at the Huntington Library. I love how simple it is, while giving such a strong sense of place. Creating space via geometric shapes and shadows.

My painting ended up having more colors in it, of course, but it was still an interesting (and patience-building!) exercise in finding a balance between restraint and richness (white looks simple, but can be tricky!).

The painting is available as of posting via Billis Williams Gallery: gallery@billiswilliams.com.

Got to reflect on the through lines across my various series and why I paint what I do (seeking antidotes by shifting perspective), in this interview with Canvas Rebel

I titled this painting "Sunlight on the Side (Home)" after the Edward Hopper quote: "What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house." I can relate. I wanted to paint this house (which is somebody's home, not mine) because I love all the triangles and the sharp contrast of the shadows. Also, it is so emblematic of LA: this Victorian-style residential house located just one block over from my studio building in a heavily industrial part of Lincoln Heights (the architecture/city planning in LA is often bizarre!).

I leaned into my interest in color field painting by simplifying the composition, and had fun playing with the colors. I had a reproduction of one of my favorite Hopper paintings, "Rooms by the Sea", up in the studio as a reference while painting this, which definitely influenced my imagined sky. 

Another fun fact: I used some of Sam Francis's paint in this, specifically for the color of the house. My friend Bryan Ida was a studio assistant for Francis, and gave me some of his old oil paints - which are still good! I mixed the lovely beige-y pink color by adding white to Mussini Pozzuoli earth, which is similar to burnt sienna, but much more potent. 

Delighted to have my painting "Jet Stream Horizon" featured in New Artist / New Collectors, presented by Bank of America, an exciting new program launching at Seattle Art Fair this year.

The program is designed to introduce collectors and attendees to new artists and new galleries, encouraging connection and fostering deeper relationships with the fabric of the fair. 

Learn more about the other featured artists and the program at seattleartfair.com.

The fair is JULY 27 - 30, 2023. My work is on view with Billis Williams Gallery in Booth C04. 

DESCRIPTION: Jikan means time in Japanese, but I'm using it as defined by Pico Iyer in his book "The Art of Stillness", where it refers to the silence between two thoughts.* Iyer speaks of the luxury and beauty of the empty space - whether in the rests of a piece of music, or the blank space on the written page. I'm exploring this idea in the empty spaces on a canvas that give the viewer's "imagination room to breathe".

So, 'Cloud Jikan' draws one to ponder the quiet, empty space between the tiny rain cloud and the buildings beneath. What magic lies within the silence between two thoughts?

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*Note: The singer Leonard Cohen used Jikan as his monk name when he lived at Mount Baldy Zen Center, exploring Zen Buddhism. He is one example in Pico Iyer's book, which muses on the power of stillness in our tech-hurried world.

Watch Iyer's 2014 TED Talk here.

"One Last Dance (in this parking lot)", 2022, oil on canvas, 40x30 inches.

I was drawn to this scene by the repetition of triangles created by the lines on tarmac, the pillar posts and the tiny traffic cone, mirrored by the building angles and diamonds of earthquake bolts. With its strong desert light and colors contrasted with the black doorways, there is a nod to Georgia O'Keeffe's patio door paintings. The lone cumulus cloud hovers comically above, offering levity. The title is a lyric from a Sparklehorse song which is beautiful with an underlying sadness - bittersweet, much like life.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Here is a time lapse video of the work in progress to show some of my painting process:

I love color. Since I moved to LA seven years ago, my color palette has really changed. I never used to use pink, yellow or orange, but the southern California light has made these hues seep into my work. I also have a studio with great light, so I can tell that my paintings have gotten even more bright and vibrant over the last three years. 

The title comes from a John Ashbery poem, which encapsulates the intensity of light in this scene. The halo of high sun on the right casts a white, atmospheric glow onto the otherwise clear blue sky. The building colors are invented, a chance to play, which is one of the joys of painting. A seemingly simple painting, the more one looks, the more one appreciates the details and feels the warmth of the sun radiating off the building.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS
Here are some photos of the work-in-progress to show my process. Sometimes I layer a color on the opposite side of the color wheel underneath the end color to make it pop more. So for example, putting a yellow-orange as the underpainting under this blue sky makes the blue even more luscious. 

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‘Archil Threshold’, 2022, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches

DESCRIPTION: This view from inside a parking garage looking out creates a window, a threshold space where the viewer is still inside, but has an opening to a brighter view - a theme I explore in this series. Compositionally accurate, the colors are invented or more saturated. The title archil refers to the purplish color of the walls - it is a red-purple dye made from lichen, as described in the book "The Secret Lives of Color".