Bill Wiman (American/Texas, b. 1940) , "Hats, Boots and Gun", 1976, oil on canvas, signed lower left, signed, titled and dated en verso, 33 in. x 36 in., framed. Note: Born in Roscoe, Texas, Bill Wiman is a photorealist painter of conceptual still lifes and portraits. He studied at East Texas State University and the University of Florida. Wiman served as an assistant professor of painting at East Texas State University from 1966 to 1971 and began teaching at the University of Texas at Austin in 1972. Wiman's photorealist technique gives the illusion of a full-scale color photograph due to the meticulous application of paint, careful attention to detail and stark high-contrast lighting. In the work offered here, the juxtaposed shapes and textures of familiar objects, such as the cowboy hat, mismatched flippers and menacing staple gun, combine tensely and somewhat unsettlingly together within a neutral setting to create a surreal and thought-provoking still life.