Art in ’08: Four Decades of Work on View
The paintings of CFA’s John Walker featured in a solo exhibition in March at two Newbury Street galleries
At BU, the visual arts mean more than pictures hanging in galleries.Art means images from a cross-country trip painted on walls, delicatesculptures made of concrete and steel, and innovative ways of lookingat the world. This week, BU Today looks back at the year in visual artsat Boston University.
John Walker, a College of Fine Arts professor of painting, is not only a distinguished faculty member of CFA’s school of visual arts, but a giant in the international contemporary art scene. His art — which spans nearly 40 years — was showcased at a solo exhibition during March at two Newbury Street galleries.
John Walker, A Survey: 1970–2008, coordinated by the Nielsen Gallery, featured his most recent paintings combining abstraction with landscape, as well as large-scale collages, a group of turbulent works based on the horrors of war, and the brooding oil on canvas pieces from his Oceania and Alba series, which he painted during a stay in Australia.
“We’re very fortunate to have a painter of such magnitude in our community,” according to Joshua Buckno, manager of the Nielsen Gallery.
The magnitude, in terms of size, of Walker’s work made it impossible for one gallery to hold all the pieces, however, so the collection was shown in two venues: the Nielsen Gallery, at 179 Newbury St., through April 5 and the Kidder Smith Gallery, at 131 Newbury St., through March 29.
Rebecca McNamara can be reached at ramc@bu.edu.
This story originally ran February 29, 2008.
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.