William Swanson was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1970. He has a BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design. Swanson has had solo exhibitions at DCKT Contemporary, New York, Marx & Zavattero, San Francisco, and Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles. His work has also been shown at The Neuberger Museum, Cohan Leslie and Browne and Jen Bekman Gallery in New York, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. His work resides in many collections, including The West Collection and The Progressive Art Collection.