Artist Spotlight Series: Charles Edward Walker
I am excited to feature an artist from my own collection this week. I have a piece by Charles Edward Walker hanging in my mountain entrance hall. I adore the colorful canvases with so much depth and texture. His show in Charlotte opens March 6th 6-8pm at Hidell Brooks Gallery and runs through April 25th, 2015. Title of show is “Far East Dallas”.
Dallas, TX
What is your training?
I received my BA in art from Wake Forest University
and then my MFA in painting from The University of Georgia. After wandering and painting for several year in Los Angeles and North Carolina I’ve settled into my studio in Dallas, TX over the last 5 years.
What inspires you and your designs?
Keeping my eyes open mostly. I try to suck in as much as I can from my surroundings and then let it come out in my paintings.
What is your favorite piece?
This is one that is from my show at Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, “Far East Dallas.”
How has the your area influenced your work?
Well the title of my show opening March 6th is “Far East Dallas” so I would say I am influenced a great deal by my surroundings! I try to pull my palette tones from where I live. I might be moved by an old sign from the 50s or the shade of concrete outside of my house.
What is your favorite restaurant in Dallas?
Eno’s Pizza Tavern in the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff.
What is your favorite cocktail?
Jack Daniels over ice. If you are drinking with Wall Street types or in a biker bar you fit right in with J.D. on the rocks.
How do you balance personal life and work?
Monday through Friday I hit the studio around 7:30 or 8am and I shut the door on the studio when the whistle blows around 4 or 4:30pm. Unless I have a deadline for a show or commission I try not to paint in the evenings or the weekend. That is family time.
Dream trip?
Following my wife as we thrift shop our way across Scandanavia.
Dream commission?
An alter piece.
Your favorite host / hostess gift to give?
Something handmade when possible such as my wife’s award winning pickle relish.
Who is your style icon?
Jackson Pollock – black t-shirt, jeans, and a jean jacket. I like timeless things, something you can wear when you are 20 or 60 years old.
Your favorite up and coming artist?
He isn’t what I would call up and coming, he is my peer based out of Berlin and the USA, I really love the work of Greg Murr. His work is very delicate and elegant.
What is your most treasured possession?
Our Alex Katz lithograph, a portrait of his son Vincent because it is very reminiscent of Wake Forest University’s monumental painting by Katz of young Vincent. It brings back great memories for me.
What are you reading?
Elmore Leonard’s “Unknown Man #89”
What are you listening to?
What I like to call robot music by Gary Numan
What are your favorite blogs / publications?
I love most things midcentury modern so I read things like Atomic Ranch
and Dwell Magazine.
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painting a painting is more about listening than speaking. while in the beginning you do find yourself doing most of the talking. “this goes here. this goes there. that works, and that looks awful so get rid of it.” these are the things you find yourself declaring with your gestures. at some point in this process the painting wakes up and starts chirping at you, making suggestions about what to do next. you will be well heeded to listen to the painting at this point. sometimes you get into an argument or have a different view of things with the painting and you have to ‘blow up’ a section. this happens. you move on and keep working.
at the end of the painting cycle the painting reaches a point of stillness as the painting tends to go silent. that’s when i know that i am done with this particular painting. sometimes i refer to this as the moment where the painting ‘disappears, ’ offering no further instructions on what to do next. i then have to decide if i agree with the painting and move on or blow it up and keep going.
My paintings are a record of this dialogue or conversation I have with the object. The Art exists in the process, the call and response between artist and canvas where in the end the painting has the last say as to what works and I am simply left to agree. One thing I have learned is that the paintings are a lot smarter than I am so it is in my best interest to listen to what they have to say.
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See loads of work from the show HERE and a few of my favorites below.
Don’t forget to pop into the fun opening on Friday night at Hidell Brooks Gallery.
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