A John Walker painting must be “felt” before it is understood. He resists statements, preferring that he is just trying to make a good picture.

Walker’s first significant public attention came in his native England. He moved to New York in the early 1970’s and produced large tectonic collages that embodied his exceptional painterly talents. Eventually, he became fascinated with a generalized upright “Alba” figure, bringing a figurative outreach and the possibility of more focused self-reflection.

Returning to the States in the late 1980’s, he began, occasionally, to take blank canvases out into the landscape. He joked that every English painter is a closet landscape artist. But what proved crucial to him was transcribing the unrelenting tides – the wind, water, and clime that continuously carve the coastline of Maine.

In retrospect, I see Walker always confronting a universal coastline. He records its meandering body - multiple histories and different cultural inversions - with intense personal concentration. He has realized that together we are one universal human continent. In the fullest sense, he is a painter seeking his picture, an artist’s truth - with no distraction.

All works in this exhibition are for sale. Inquiries may be made by email (contact@nielsengallery.com) or by telephone 978.369.7071.

Publications on John Walker

John Walker Seal Point Series

Published 2006
130 pages (hard cover only)
80 color reproductions
7 b/w reproductions
Essay: Dushan Petrovich
Publishers: Nielsen Gallery (Boston) and Knoedler & Company (New York)
ISBN  978-09713548-2-1

John Walker  A Survey: 1970 - 2008

Published 2008
64 pages (soft cover only)
29 color reproductions
Essay: Excerpts from 13 essays written (including Jack Flam, John
Elderfield, Dore Ashton, Hilton Kramer, Carl Belz, Karen Wilkin, Katy Kline,
Alexi Worth, Andrew Forge)
Publisher: Nielsen Gallery (Boston)
ISBN  978-0-9713548-4-5