Untitled (Future Inner Limits), 2021 by William Scott

William Scott is a self-taught artist and one of the most celebrated figures at Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center—the world's first independent nonprofit dedicated to advancing artists with developmental, mental, and physical disabilities since its founding in 1973. Through meticulously detailed paintings, drawings, and ceramic sculptures, Scott re-imagines his native San Francisco as "Praise Frisco," an idealized, peaceful city centered around wholesome community, Baptist-sermon ideals, and transformed neighborhood landmarks.

His work vividly expresses his deeply personal social longings, from portraits of women from his Bayview-neighborhood church to visionary urban planning, offering a hopeful, alternative future to modern city life. Scott’s art has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including White Columns, the Hayward Gallery, and the Berkeley Art Museum. Today, his work is held in major permanent collections like the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Oakland Museum of California, as well as the private collections of David Byrne, Cindy Sherman, and Chris Ofili.

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SOBU is proud to feature fine art prints created by our friends at Paulson Fontaine Press, a woman- and minority-owned publisher based in Berkeley, California. Founded in 1996, the press collaborates with visionary artists—including Kerry James Marshall, Martin Puryear, Tauba Auerbach, and the Quilters of Gee’s Bend—to produce exceptional limited-edition intaglio etchings. Grounded in a commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices, particularly Black artists, Paulson Fontaine Press creates works that are held in major institution collections nationwide, including MoMA, the Whitney, the National Gallery of Art, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.