We stopped by David Walker‘s studio to ask him a few questions about himself and his art prior the opening of “Brides On Fire” on 24th November (covered).
SAN: Who is David Walker ? Can you present yourself to our readers.
David Walker: I am an artist, I live in London.
SAN: Tell us about your unique “no brushes” style, where does it come from ?
DW: When I painted the first portraits I had spray paint to hand but simply didn’t have any brushes in the studio, I started making the work and found I just didn’t need them. I wanted to keep it that way, it made more sense to me, the idea of experimenting with a traditional subject matter like portraiture but using a very contemporary medium really interested me.
SAN: Does living in London has a strong influence on your work ?
DW: Definately, there are a lot of inspiring people around and i’m lucky to call some of them friends, its non stop here but I like the mayhem.
SAN: Most of your painting are titled “Unknown” so who are the people you paint?
Are they real people or just images ?
DW: Its mostly found imagery, old magazines, digital snapshots, people I meet etc I didn’t want to constrain myself in this area, if I see face that I want to paint, I just paint it. I have kept away from celebrity for now because their faces already have a story, if you use someone that nobody knows you can create your own.
SAN: Have you or will you ever paint “Unkonwn” males ?
DW: I’ve painted males before and will again, at the moment I just enjoy painting women more.
SAN: Can you tell us more about the creative process you followed for “Brides on Fire”?
DW: I hadn’t really painted canvases of this size before (2m x 2m), I’ve painted walls that are much bigger but I normally paint them in one hit and in one day, so to have something that large scale in the studio for months was new to me. The challenge was making ten huge paintings of women in my style that were different enough from one another to still be interesting and work as a whole. I though of the show like a record and each picture a track, when I was working on a painting i’d think so this is the dark track or this is the experimental one that people might not like, it may not translate but it did made the process of getting the work together more tangible.
SAN: You’ve been busy in 2011, What is your favourite painting memory of the year?
DW: I think its The White Canvas Project that Supremebeing put together. It was myself, She One, Mr, Jago, Will Barras and Bue the Warrior, being in the counrtyside, hanging out with some great artists, drinking whisky and painting in the sunshine, no prep just seeing what happened, it doesn’t get much better than that. We may be taking it to LA in 2012.
SAN: Which other artists are hanging on your walls at home?
DW: There’s a fair few nowadays but my favourite is my Arth Daniels painting, its fucking awesome.
http://www.arthdaniels.com
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