In his recent work, zigzag lines and various shape motifs denote the repetitive character of tides, weather patterns, and the natural rhythms exposed by extended meditation upon the sea.  A palette of jewel-like cobalt blue and green often contrasts against muddy brown, black, and a crisp white that seems to speak to the spaces in-between, the things unseen.  Several of these paintings hold reference to Cézanne’s The Black Marble Clock (1869-70), in which a handless clock and large seashell are presented on a linen-draped table.  Both the shell and clock appear in Walker’s new work, represented in amorphous shapes and circular outlines which evoke the artist’s ongoing reflection upon the passing of time. Still other works reference the powerful swooping forms of the fishing nets used to capture eels in the Pemaquid river, which runs past his studio on its way to the nearby bay and Atlantic Ocean.  In this vocabulary of color and form, Walker illuminates the passive ephemerality of the natural world and a resounding, intimate connection between artist and place.

John Walker (b. 1939, Birmingham, England) attended the Mosely School of Art and later the Birmingham School of Art and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. The artist’s many teaching appointments throughout his lengthy career have included Cooper Union, Yale University, the Victoria College of the Arts in Melbourne, and the Royal College in London. He retired in 2015 from his position as the head of the graduate department in painting at Boston University. His work has been the subject of more than fifty one-person exhibitions in the States and internationally and is in the permanent collections of major museums including the Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the Phillips Collection, which presented exhibitions of his work in 1982 and 2002, and the Tate in London.

CORRECTION:  Our printed announcement card for John’s show incorrectly titled the cover painting.  The correct title is FOR HARVEY – for Harvey Quaytman.