A paradox is a statement, proposition, or situation that seems illogical, absurd, or self-contradictory. However, upon further scrutiny, it may be logical or true, or at least contain an element of truth.
The purpose of a paradox is to arrest attention and provoke fresh thought.
Here is an examples of paradox: Less is More.
~ Generated by Google’s AI
Love that quote, especially when Milton Glaser, a graphic designer, said, “Less is not necessarily more”.He also said, “Just enough is more”.
Not open, but soon, and happy for visitors to come and preview what I am doing … Party soon. I found this to be a more significant project than I figured. I am learning a lot thanks to the Second Life Endowment for the Arts grant. Second Life remains one of the most open creative spaces on the web. Do art with people from all over the world. Explore art created by people down under or on the other side of the world.
Bill Hendricks / Tap Quentin
Post-modernism concerns itself with the very subjectivities first posited by Husserl (and Heidegger), in that facts are not rigid but rather shift according to an individual’s interpretation of the world around them. Therefore there is a need for a greater understanding of the systems and hierarchies’ individuals have established to understand the world.
~ Bhuvinder S. Vaidc
(Onot0logy—The Nature of Being)
Tap Quentin (a.k.a.) Bill Hendricks is a Second Life (SL) and Real Life (RL) Artist and has shown at SLEA’s Sky Gallery twice. He holds an MFA from Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Bill came to SL 16 years ago. He was fascinated by the global community and the creative space he found to experiment, play, and present his work. Second Life has always fascinated me because the very concept of this virtual space tweaks our perceptions of what reality might be and is.
Tap Quentin will use this opportunity to stretch his imagination and technical abilities further to communicate better the aspects of the nature of being. This concept can be simplified into “questions about the nature of reality. Second Life is not a game but a community that allows a global community to test and poke at the fabrics of reality, cultural or physical.
In this work, I have created a labyrinth rather than a maze. Some say a maze is where you find yourself, and a labyrinth is where you come to know yourself.
Second Life is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user-created content within a multiplayer online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Francisco–based firm Linden Lab and launched on June 23, 2003. ~https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life
SLEA-Thank youThank you, SLEA
Second Life 1/4 sim Grant–The property looking down at it. Mostly I am focused on shapes. I do appreciate the texture and color of my neighbors. I have an unexpected surprise I have two missiles flying over the property. #Shadowmason,_Tap_Quentin,_Second_Life
There are things I can imagine and I can draw. There are things I can imagine but I cannot draw. But, could I draw something that I cannot imagine? ~ István Orosz Graphic designer, animated film director, author.
My name is William John Hendricks, and I work professionally as Bill Hendricks. I am a Minneapolis-based artist and retired art and design educator. My work moves between drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, digital media, 3D modeling, interactive installations, and virtual environments.
Bill Hendricks, 2021, in my office at Minneapolis College.
I have also created and exhibited digital work under two established identities:
Shadowmason is my longtime online and digital-art identity, including my work on ArtChangesLives.com.
Tap Quentin is the name I use for my artwork and exhibitions in the virtual world Second Life.
These names represent different periods and settings within one artistic life. Shadowmason and Tap Quentin are both parts of my history as William “Bill” Hendricks.
Artistic Practice
My work moves between tactile and virtual forms. I am interested in what happens when the handmade and the digital meet—when systems and structures become containers for emotion, imagination, and spirit.
After retiring from teaching, I returned fully to my studio practice. My recent work includes watercolor, gouache, ink drawing, photography, mixed media, and digital modeling. Across these forms, my work moves between observation, memory, and imagination.
Memory has become increasingly important in my recent work. I lived in New York City during the 1980s and into the 1990s, where I worked at All State Art, Circle’s TR Gallery, and Desired Printing. I was part of the gay community during the AIDS epidemic. My memories of Christopher Street—of friendship, loss, survival, and the extraordinary creativity and joy of that period—continue to enter my work today.
Exhibitions and Collections
My work has been exhibited in Minneapolis and New York and is held in private collections throughout the United States.
My exhibitions include The Intimate Gallery at Gallery 148 in Minneapolis, a group exhibition exploring collective consciousness, and Postcards From the Edge, presented by Visual AIDS at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York City.
In 2026, my work returned to New York through Collective Z Gallery. Marsha P., a work rooted in my memories of Christopher Street and Marsha P. Johnson, was exhibited during Pride Month on the Lower East Side. My work is also represented through Collective Z Gallery on Artsy.
My interactive digital work Interpreted, Obscured and Sought (2005) is archived by Rhizome ArtBase, whose collection documents significant works in the history of internet-based art.
Teaching and Education
I earned my MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD). For more than two decades, I taught Graphic Design, Web Design, and Fine Art at Minneapolis College, formerly Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC). I also taught at MCAD.
Teaching shaped my understanding of art as a continuing conversation among thought, feeling, experimentation, and craft.
Virtual and Digital Work
In Second Life, I exhibit as Tap Quentin. My virtual projects include digital prints, drawings, constructed environments, and work presented through Ephemeral Traces.
The name Shadowmason connects my earlier internet-based work, my digital practice, and the history of ArtChangesLives.com. Shadowmason and Tap Quentin are not separate people or disconnected identities; they are parts of my broader artistic history.
Current Work
I continue to make art and write from Minneapolis. ArtChangesLives.com brings together my studio work, photographs, digital experiments, reflections, and observations about how art shapes the way we understand our lives, relationships, and communities.
