William Okaily is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and writer whose practice bridges visual and performing arts, scenography, and critical research. His work explores perception and the intersections of materiality and myth, often incorporating deconstructive methodologies and oral histories. Influenced by East Asian philosophies of Nothingness, he investigates what he calls "the grandeur in the granular"—how subtle details evoke visceral responses and reveal hidden complexities.
William earned an MFA in Multidisciplinary Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he also pursued a Minor in Curatorial Practice and a Certificate in the College Teaching of Art. He holds a BA in Studio Art with a Minor in Media and Communication from the American University of Beirut and completed his French Baccalaureate in Philosophy and Literature.
His work has been exhibited in Lebanon and the United States, and he participated in the Antioch Recovery Project Research Lab at Johns Hopkins University. Currently, he contributes accessible art criticism to RVA Magazine and teaches Painting and Drawing at the Visual Art Center of Richmond and the Cultural Art Center at Glen Allen. William fosters critical perspectives and innovative pedagogies, integrating radicalism, critical thought, and risk-taking into dynamic learning environments.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I approach my work as an act of optimism—an exploration of how stripping away excess heightens perception and reveals subtle nuances. Drawing from East Asian philosophies of Nothingness and the spiritual underpinnings of Druze mysticism, I seek to bring out the grandeur in the granular—the small, often overlooked visual details that can provoke visceral reactions in the perceiver, whether a sudden intake of breath or the clenching of teeth.
My process aligns with what Jessika Khazrik defines as ‘in-disciplinary’ practice: a disruptive jolt between painting, sculpture, and performance, where each medium cross-pollinates the next before leading me back to the traditional canvas, renewed and expanded. Drawing and Painting remain central to my process, serving as investigative tools and means of deconstruction. I am particularly interested in how the act of drawing—its immediacy, its erasures, its revisions—mirrors the way we construct, dissolve, and reshape thoughts.
Beyond the studio, I have been contributing to accessible art criticism through writing for RVA Magazine. Here, I work to reframe how general audiences encounter painting—moving art criticism beyond insular discourse and into public dialogue.
My installation, Why Did You Bring Me Here?, epitomizes my interest in bridging cultural and temporal divides. In this work, artifacts laden with Lebanese collective memory are recontextualized through a science-fiction portal, interrogating national identity, oral histories, and the mutable nature of truth. By positioning these objects in a speculative framework, the installation invites viewers to question what they know but also the institutional mechanisms that mediate our understanding of history. Across disciplines and formats, my work continually explores the tension between opacity and transparency, as well as the evolving narratives we construct around identity and belonging.