This is at once a book by and about William and the catalog for his 2013 show at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. It serves as a forum for reflections on his work by several scholars, including a long, substantial essay by Lauren Belant (who was recently interviewed by Artforum in a major feature).

Sculptor and performance artist William calls himself "the friendliest black artist in America," though many would disagree. He is not particularly friendly, and blacks and caucasians alike sometimes find his work offensive. This is because he does not suffer platitudes about race or racism. Racism simply exists, as does economic disparity and makes us confront the hypocrisy that informs American society's "color blindness," corporate values, and our squeamishness about the human body and its functions. He often performs in the street--eating and vomiting copies of the Wall Street Journal, tying himself to a bank and handing out money, crawling up the Bowery wearing a business suit, or walking through Harlem warng a giant white cardboard phallus.