TO Live with Culture

Christopher Jones is a cultural development officer with the city of Toronto, as well as a journalist, graphic designer and owner of the blog StyleNorth. He recently wrote about me and my work for a Toronto blog called TO Live with Culture.

It's a well written and enthusiastic article. I was surprised and impressed at the scope of Chris' piece. He was quite interested in my log books of the formulas and systems I work with in my paintings, which is something that is not too frequently considered.

Click here to read the full article.

House & Home

The Toronto style writer and collector Karen Von Hahn recently finished a stunning renovation to her home, which was featured in the Stylemaker issue of House & Home Magazine in August of 2010, in an article called "Her Look: Curated Cool." I was excited to have two of my paintings appear in the images. The folded paper painting on the fourth page of the article is one of my favourites from that series, which was distinctly influenced by the work of the French landscape painter Corot. I think it comes across beautifully in the picture. Karen has an exceptional eye for design and detail, which really comes across through her home. She's made some fabulous choices. The screen that divides the living and dining rooms is a remarkable piece.

You are Here — Exhibition in Denver, Colorado

Ivar Zielle at Plus Galllery in Denver very nicely asked if I would contribute a piece to You are Here, which was his contribution to Denver's Biennial of the Americas. I was greatly honoured to be asked, especially because I'm a big fan of the other artists in the show: Brendan Tang, Alex McLeod, Andrew Rucklidge, and Luke Painter. 
So during the summer I got busy making a large folded paper painting. My assistant Filip was a great help in figuring out how to handle and assemble a painting this size. It installed to floater blocks with velcro. 

Here's a shot of Filip attaching the velcro to the back of the painting. 

Here's what it looks like all folded up.

The finished piece - A-601. Here's a shot of the finished piece.

I was quite happy with it, and feel that the border turned out well. 

Here's how it looked installed at Plus gallery.

Here's an article about the show in ICOSA Magazine from July-September 2010 written by Emily Haggstrom 

"Painting only in blue and white, Walker creates each piece on a diverse medium and uses atypical elements to apply each effect to that specific painting. No pattern is alike and each thin stroke invokes the artist to splash, trace and meander his brush across the piece. Visitors to his traveling museum will be surprised just how much an artist can do with what is typically considered "less."  – Emily Haggstrom

Click here to read the full article.

Style at Home

Vancouver collectors Amir and Laura Neyestani had their home featured in the March 2010 issue of Style at Home magazine. The article featured an image showing one of my paintings displayed in their living room.

This article received a lot of attention and generated a lot of recent press for me.

Here is the image of the Neyestanis' home featuring my work. They have a beautiful home, and the work looks great over the mantelpiece.

Here's an image of the piece, Untitled #792

The Globe & Mail

The widely known and prolific Toronto art critic Gary Michael Dault wrote an excellent review of my 2009 show at Nicholas Metivier Gallery.
Gary is a skilled and thoughtful writer, and has published many articles about me over the years. I have really appreciated his continuous support.

He starts by describing my work as "strange, otherworldly paintings," which I thought was an apt and exciting introduction. I was also quite honoured and happily surprised to see the giant reproduction of my painting published.

Gary writes:

"The frayed and feathery, fantasy-borne, tower-like buildings he erects, as well as his ongoing suite of filigreed, boa-like graphic fandangos based on baroque letters (German initials from the 16th century), inhabit a perpetual evening."

"The pictures are born, as well, from his own endless looking. His paintings appear to have seamlessly assimilated such diverse sources as the 19th-century fantasists like Arnold Bocklin, Richard Dadd, Mervyn Peake, illustrator Arthur Rackam perhaps, the blue-whiteness of Delft china, and the distant delicacies of classic Chinese landscape painting (which you can see in the pretty recession of the landscape around the solitary pagoda, and in the puffs of gossamer cloud rising in the distance)."

Canadian Art — Fall 2009

For the Fall 2009 25th Anniversary issue of Canadian Art Magazine, Corinna Ghaznavi wrote a review of my show at Nicholas Metivier Gallery.

Carousel — issue 22 2008

From the talented artist and writer Mark Laliberte comes Carousel.

Some years ago I came across this really interesting magazine called Carousel. It had rich a mix of visuals and text that really appealed to me. I started picking up more issues and was consistently impressed. Then one day Mark Laliberte emailed me and asked if he could put my work in his magazine. I was honoured to be included in this great publication and doubly honoured when Mark put one of my paintings on the cover.