Present Continuous, Present Imperfect is an exhibition by Rory Williams that attends to the often unnoticed moments that make up the texture of the everyday, bringing together paintings, prints, and drawings that linger on the small, unguarded intervals of daily life. Lost objects, scattered bowls after a meal, a fleeting meeting between generations – these moments, often passed over, are held long enough to reveal their quiet resonance.

Through slow observation, Williams puts the mundane under the spotlight, acknowledging the human traces embedded within it. Neither grand nor monumental, these scenes sit in the space between still life, memory, and encounter, suggesting that the fabric of experience is woven not from the exceptional but from the imperfect, continuous present we inhabit.

Rory Williams (b. 1993, United Kingdom) is a Newcastle-based painter, curator, and art instructor. Over the past two years, he has been creating paintings that explore mundane and quotidian scenes to question how we, as individuals, connect to the society surrounding us. Through this, he explores the ‘spaces in-between’, focusing on moments of time and light to draw out hidden narratives which illuminate the intersections between individual and community relationships.