Artist Statement
Since 2002, Will Armstrong has spent twenty weekends per year traveling - racking up 400,000+ miles on his vertebrae and on a rotating cast of trusted (though admittedly abused) vehicles. The road holds countless stories and in his work, you will find them. Tales of out of the way BBQ shops, cheap motels and barrels of gas paid on questionable credit; stories of both roadside dives and majestic theaters with the musicians that rotate in and out.
Will Armstrong's work is the soundtrack to the road; songs and artists are embedded on the towns they made famous. Bob Wills, Johnny Cash and Muddy Waters are as much as an influence as Frank Miller, Banksy and Thomas Nast. The lines of the road have become indistinguishable from the lines of the pen; just as the subject is from location.
Will draws with an oil-based pen on a collage of vintage maps and sheet music. An acrylic wash on top or the drawing gives the work a painterly style.
