OVERSIZED SUIT

 

Instead of a sole body of works, Walker views his exhibitions as albums. As each track and LP has its own distinguished features, certain qualities remain consistent. Carrying over from his last exhibition, A Pocketful of Bitter, Walker has resumed the tragic comedy elements in his second solo exhibition in London, Oversized Suit, and delved more into it. He drew inspiration from the Ealing comedies in the 1950s, which were made by the Ealing Studios based in London. He described the narratives of the films as “not really dark situations, but certainly not joyfulness.” Similarities apply to his paintings. He is an expert on making humour out of the miseries.

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The exhibition is named Oversized Suit, which derived from one of the paintings exhibited, Oversized Funeral Suit. Same as all Walker’s paintings, Oversized Funeral Suit is, to a degree, autobiographical. This painting portrays his memory of going back to Bradford, his hometown, to attend a funeral. He lacked proper clothings because of travelling, and had to go in with a massive suit. He felt terrible because he was at a funeral yet his major concern was looking ridiculous, which apparently bothered no one else. This sense of awakeness and absurdity hovers around and runs through the entire exhibition. For Walker, putting his worries and concerns into pictures seems to be the only natural act, in that way, his works and himself become inseparable.

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Walker is brilliant at catching the oddities in everyday lives. He draws most of his images from his memories. Memories have the nature of chaos and distortion, multiple dimensions collapsing into one from time to time. As a result, many of his works are set in a somewhat familiar environment, yet something always feels off or suggests an alternative dystopian world. Some of the scenery would stay with him for years before they eventually come to realisation. My Bully, for example, was an idea which came to him nine years ago, but was finally put onto the surface fairly recently. There is always a sense of surrealism present in his paintings, which is not the common art history defined term, but more around the mundane strangeness. Many of his works translate a common unhappiness which feels relatable to all. He described his own work as melancholic, even with the more pastel colours he is now experimenting with coming out of the pandemic.

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Walker uses his paintings to tell stories, and stories remain the most important thing.

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(Written by Yiran Zhu) 

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For press or other inquiries: matti@warmbath.art