Will Cotton is best known for his depictions of “landscapes” composed of sweets, often inhabited by languidly posed females. Executed with flawless skill and technique, Cotton’s work is an optical delight and is formally resonant with the influences of seventeenth-century rococo paintings, the nudes of Bouguereau and Cabanel, and the classic American pin-ups of George Petty and Alberto Vargas. Cotton’s figures are often inspired by models such as burlesque performers and fellow artists from the art, film, and music worlds.

Cotton received his BFA from Cooper Union, New York and also studied at the New York Academy of Art, the Académie des Beaux Arts in Rouen, France and La Napoule Art Foundation in La Napoule, France. Exhibiting nationally and internationally since 1995, his work can be found in the collections of the Seattle Art Museum, the Columbus Museum of Art and the Maramotti Collection, among others. His work is the subject of a recent monograph, Will Cotton (Rizzoli, 2011), which is available in a limited edition through Pace Prints.