The focus of this exhibition is a series of six large works on paper created by John Walker during a visit to Sydney, Australia, in 2012. Titled Sydney Botanical Garden they respond to a bamboo plant that the artist encountered. Walker worked on-site, often attracting onlookers, when he captured his subject in ink and acrylic and subsequently tore and collaged several of the works.
Exhibited here for the first time, these stunning works surround viewers with a luscious, richly textured and colored, immersive environment. John Walker’s art offers a bold and imaginative demonstration of the possibilities inherent in the medium of drawing today.
Walker has held a residence in Maine since the 1980s and, after concluding his service as director of Boston University’s Graduate Program in Painting and Sculpture, now lives in Walpole.
John Walker has represented Britain in the Venice Biennale and has received numerous awards and distinctions. The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; The Tate Gallery, London; the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, all exhibited his work in solo exhibitions. The Bowdoin College Museum of Art organized an exhibition of Walker’s work in 2001. The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, Maine, presents John Walker: From Seal Point, from June 17 through October 29, 2017.