Williams permeates her paintings with sexual motifs rendered in strokes of vivid color coupled with fluid, cartoonish energy. In this canvas, images of big toes emerge from a web of floppy blue and orange shapes. Tethered to Surrealism's rich network of visual allusions—chiefly to foot fetishism and an obsession with toe–licking—the artist uses displaced sexual motifs, such as spiky heels, pointy shoes, big toes, and pudendalike feet. She identifies the hinged feet seen in Don Martin's Mad Magazine cartoons as a source of inspiration. "People don't often talk about the fact that my work is funny," Williams comments, "but that's definitely one of my criteria. I'm really happy if the paint comes out well and it's a really goofy image, like a new dumb take on toes."

Gallery label from

Medium Oil and acrylic on canvas
Dimensions 8' 2" x 9' (248.9 x 274.3 cm)
Credit Carlos and Alison Spear Gómez Fund, Marcia Riklis Fund, and an anonymous fund
Object number 359.1997
Department Painting & Sculpture

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