Collection: John Walker - Beaks and Bones

Beaks and Bones is a new collection inspired by John Walker's imagined wanderings through a strange, post-apocalyptic world. It is a realm inhabited by variety of characters who often seem to be woven together from a random collection of spare bits and pieces, things like antique pull toys, vegetables and flowers, beaks and bones.

Opening reception: Saturday, June 24th, 6 - 9pm. Drinks will be provided by our friends at Jetty Road Brewery and Malocchio.

This exhibition will run from June 25th - July 16th and will coincide with Emma Black's Unearthly Remains and group show Dark Art 2023.

In these paintings, things aren't always as they appear at first glance: the happy innocent harbors a sinister edge, for example, and there is almost always a hint of irony, usually a touch of dark humor or a sprinkling of satire, to be found.

Walker's paintings spring from his love of invented narratives or twisted takes on long-standing myths and legends. They may be accounts of obstacles overcome, cautionary tales or simply the presentation of friends enjoying an evening of music together. The ideas which underpin the work are generally loosely constructed at the outset. They are allowed room to evolve and grow as the paintings progress. The result is a process of give and take: a story will fuel its portrayal, which in turn shapes the narrative, until eventually scenario and depiction intersect to form a satisfactory conclusion.

John Walker has been creating artwork for as long as he can remember, from childhood drawings of cavemen versus dinosaurs to a long career as an illustrator using traditional and digital media. After decades spent creating artwork for commercial and editorial clients, he shifted to making personal work. His love of portraiture developed into a series of reliquary-themed art based on an idea of parallel worlds which evolved into his current series of animal-derived pieces. The continuous thread through it all has been the need to tell a story, and he has many more tales to tell.