William Oberst

I'm a contemporary representational painter working mainly in oils. My subject is people, whom I depict in sometimes highly contrived situations (though sometimes not).

My other pursuit is philosophical-scientific: understanding how representational paintings function as first-person reports of artists' conscious experience.

In the Links section (above), you'll find a 20-minute film titled “The Painter’s Vision" that introduces my theoretical work. There’s also “Representational Painting and Consciousness,” a published paper; and talks I’ve given at conferences in Tucson, La Jolla, and Miami.

(Above) Four Seated People (detail), oil on linen, 42 in. wide x 46 in. high