Joe Warrior-Walker: Ley Lands
Upcoming exhibition
Overview
Massey Klein Gallery is pleased to present Ley Lands, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Joe Warrior-Walker. The exhibition will be on view from October 25th through December 13th, with an opening reception on Saturday, October 25th from 6-8pm. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. For press inquiries or questions regarding works available, please email info@masseyklein.com.
Press release
Ley Lands presents new paintings from artist Joe Warrior-Walker. His paintings are playful yet poignant studies of the cultural impact of contrasting environments. Operating in the realm of abstraction, each painting is a visual translation of landscape, memory, and identity, an accumulation of observations interwoven to communicate a personal experience through color and form. This latest body of work, slowly developed over the last couple of years, is quintessential of the artist’s exploration into painting as a medium. Referential and colloquial, the artist’s work maintains a conscious dialog with the language of painting itself.
Each composition is built up by layered areas of color and form, a continuation of the artist’s diverse use of materials, comprising raw pigments with oil and acrylic paints, ensuing unexpected interactions. The current exhibit references the concept of ley lines; loose line drawing navigates a journey through each painting like winding pathways leading up to a horizon line. Ley lines are theoretical, invisible straight lines that connect both man-made and natural ancient and prehistoric monuments. Some believe these lines are a way in which to navigate the landscape, while others believe they carry rivers of supernatural energy, with pockets of concentrated power located at places of intersection. The artist’s childhood home sits upon a hill that is considered by many to be a significant site for ley lines connecting the landscape of Cornwall. The exhibited painting, Torr Crobm, is the original Cornish name for this site, now known as Trencrom Hill.
Warrior-Walker’s process is iterative and physical—palimpsestic and archaeological. Each painting is built up slowly, then knocked back, taken through an intuitive process of layering, erasing, scraping, and rebuilding, always leaving traces of previous layers. Each composition becomes a terrain in its own right. The artist’s paintings are indefinite, deliberately kept in a state of flux. Warrior-Walker is not interested in fixed representation. Rather, he allows each painting to encapsulate the different environments he experiences, past and present, a collage of memory and place.
Joe Warrior-Walker completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at The Chelsea School of Art, during which he was awarded The Brenda Landon Portrait Prize, later winning a scholarship to complete his Masters Degree in Creative Entrepreneurship at UEA London.
The artist has exhibited internationally in solo and group shows in cities such as Paris, London, Milan, Los Angeles, and Miami. Recent notable solo exhibitions include those at Coates & Scarry in Bristol and Septieme Gallery in both their Cotonou and Paris locations, and notable group exhibitions include Informality Gallery in London, Gurr Johns in London (curated by Lewis Dalton Gilbert), Marlborough Gallery in London, Durden & Ray Gallery in Los Angeles, Breach Gallery in Miami, and Hastings Contemporary. This year, new work by the artist was featured in Septieme Gallery’s booth at Art Paris. His debut solo exhibition with Massey Klein Gallery is his first time exhibiting in New York City. The artist has been interviewed for Traction Magazine and Drake’s, and has work publicly installed as part of the permanent collection of Watt Plaza in Los Angeles. The artist lives and works in Bristol, UK.
Each composition is built up by layered areas of color and form, a continuation of the artist’s diverse use of materials, comprising raw pigments with oil and acrylic paints, ensuing unexpected interactions. The current exhibit references the concept of ley lines; loose line drawing navigates a journey through each painting like winding pathways leading up to a horizon line. Ley lines are theoretical, invisible straight lines that connect both man-made and natural ancient and prehistoric monuments. Some believe these lines are a way in which to navigate the landscape, while others believe they carry rivers of supernatural energy, with pockets of concentrated power located at places of intersection. The artist’s childhood home sits upon a hill that is considered by many to be a significant site for ley lines connecting the landscape of Cornwall. The exhibited painting, Torr Crobm, is the original Cornish name for this site, now known as Trencrom Hill.
Warrior-Walker’s process is iterative and physical—palimpsestic and archaeological. Each painting is built up slowly, then knocked back, taken through an intuitive process of layering, erasing, scraping, and rebuilding, always leaving traces of previous layers. Each composition becomes a terrain in its own right. The artist’s paintings are indefinite, deliberately kept in a state of flux. Warrior-Walker is not interested in fixed representation. Rather, he allows each painting to encapsulate the different environments he experiences, past and present, a collage of memory and place.
Joe Warrior-Walker completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at The Chelsea School of Art, during which he was awarded The Brenda Landon Portrait Prize, later winning a scholarship to complete his Masters Degree in Creative Entrepreneurship at UEA London.
The artist has exhibited internationally in solo and group shows in cities such as Paris, London, Milan, Los Angeles, and Miami. Recent notable solo exhibitions include those at Coates & Scarry in Bristol and Septieme Gallery in both their Cotonou and Paris locations, and notable group exhibitions include Informality Gallery in London, Gurr Johns in London (curated by Lewis Dalton Gilbert), Marlborough Gallery in London, Durden & Ray Gallery in Los Angeles, Breach Gallery in Miami, and Hastings Contemporary. This year, new work by the artist was featured in Septieme Gallery’s booth at Art Paris. His debut solo exhibition with Massey Klein Gallery is his first time exhibiting in New York City. The artist has been interviewed for Traction Magazine and Drake’s, and has work publicly installed as part of the permanent collection of Watt Plaza in Los Angeles. The artist lives and works in Bristol, UK.
