And don't think Robert Williams wasn't paying attention. He's been seen in exactly the same way by the status-quo fine-arts crowd ever since. Relegated to a lower phylum in their kingdom all along ...

California is a place, says Williams, “that takes ridiculousness to a point where it’s like a fine wine — it goes from tacky to meretricious.” The artist says it best in “Robert Williams ...

Robert Williams has been painting ... After a stint at Chouinard Art Institute (now part of CalArts) in the early 1960s, Williams worked in the studio of custom car legend Ed “Big Daddy ...

Williams, who was already an established fine artist when he joined the art studio of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth (creator of the character Rat Fink), became the custom car builder’s art director.