Denise Bibro Fine Art in Chelsea is pleased to exhibit works by Chicago artist, Chuck Walker, in his solo exhibition NEOREALISM.
Walker is a seasoned artist. In the past referred as a rogue artist… a bit unconventional. His current work has edginess, but there is a veteran mellowness of a painter in the trenches without compromising skill, intellect or human content. Walker’s paintings are informed with only what one can obtain from experience. An early review in the Art Examiner by John Brunetti speaks well of the artist, “…. Often emphasized, this misrepresentation of Walker’s working methods has been a convenient distraction ……from serious critical analysis of his often-diverse body of socially uncomfortable images, while overlooking, and in the process debasing, the conceptual intelligence and formal complexity that anchor Walker’s bravura paint handling.”
Walker paints with passion and imagination. His subjects are humble and heroic. They are intersective and not so easy to detect. They can be romantic, venerable, and self-absorbed. Their stances may be awkward, their eyes closed, their faces turned. Often a deep past is suggested, or a happening coupled with an unexpected feeling of what is to come. Most often there is always psychological drama and tension. As Sue Taylor, from ARTnews once said, “…Walker’s brand of realism is somewhat akin to Eric Fischl’s grim vision, where stylistic inaccuracies also parallel disturbing ambiguities in subject manner…Walker’s approach, unlike Fischl’s, is sympathetic, not sardonic. Clearly, he feels tenderness for these stoic figures, male or female, images dredged up from the inner recesses of his mind and lovingly scumbled and troweled onto the canvas.”
The viewer seems to be eavesdropping. His subjects often display a mix of emotions…. it could be one of angst or another of reverie. He is interested in the soul, which like his paintings, is not obvious or hard to find in the multilayers of imagery.
As in his earlier work, his use of chiaroscuro conveys the solemn, mysterious, and foreboding tension of the figure. His current work still conveys this, but also depicts layers of color and suggestion of movement yet to happen or that which may have already happened. There is often an eerily unsettledness in his work that provokes the viewer and invites you to be tantalized and engaged. In this regard, Walker still has the same qualities that critics spoke of in his earlier years but now he has broadened his oeuvre of paining to include new dialogues that appear to be mannered but current at the same time. Mystery is still thick in the air.
Chuck Walker’s work has been exhibited at numerous venues, including the Rockford Art Museum, IL; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL; Chicago Cultural Center, IL; Chicago Botanic Garden, IL; Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, IL; Contemporary Center for Art in St. Louis, MO, and Evanston Art Center and Artspace, IL to name a few. His work is included in various private and public collections, such as the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, IL and the Tampa Museum of Art, FL. Walker’s work has been discussed and reviewed in Art News, New Art Examiner, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, and Art in America. Walker went to the Art Institute of Chicago, IL.
