Will Armstrong

For over a decade, Will Armstrong has spent more than twenty weekends a year on the road – racking up 300,000 plus miles on his vertebrae and on a rotating cast of trusted (though admittedly abused) vehicles, most recently with an airstream trailer. The road holds countless stories and in his work, you will find them. You will find stories of out of the way barbeque shops, cheap motels and barrels of gas paid on questionable credit. You will find tales of out of the way roadside dives and the musicians that crawl in and out of them. Will Armstrong’s new series, the Tin Can Tourist is the soundtrack of the road; songs and artists are embedded on the towns they made famous. Bob Wills, Johnny Cash and Muddy Waters are as much an influence as Frank Miller, Hatch Show Print and Banksy. The lines of the road have become indistinguishable from the lines of the pen; just as the subject is from the location. The artist draws with an oil based pen on a collage of antique, topographical maps, sheet music and antique advertising. Will was educated as an illustrator from Virginia Commonwealth University, where he graduated with a BFA in Communications Arts and Design in 1995. He has spent time as a bartender, an art director and a picture-framer. He brings all of those experiences to life when he tells his hand drawn stories.