Walker fulfils a human need for the decorative
Edinburgh Gallery at BSoADean Walker, who settled in Bermuda after a career as a graphic designer in the Chicago area, is presently showing his pastels in the Edinburgh Gallery of the Bermuda Society of Arts. Most of his works, 16 in all, depict the sea in some way.
When I entered the gallery, one name flashed through my mind — Maxfield Parrish.
Dean Walker’s work doesn’t resemble Maxfield Parrish art at all. It is Walker’s use of blue or more precisely, cobolt blue, that triggered this impression.
For those who do not know the work of Maxfield Parrish, he was a well known American artist at the turn of the twentieth century.
He used blue so much, that people began to talk about “Maxfield Parrish Blue”.
For Dean Walker, the ocean lends itself to the use of blue, of course; consequently blue dominates this exhibition. Although his application of blue appears little hyped, it is also highly appealing.
There is one pastel in the exhibition that is notable because blue hardly figures in the composition. It is “Bermuda Evening”.
Warm and muted pinks, browns and yellow greens are the colours that stand out. Since this work depicts an evening scene, an evening glow pervades the composition.
In my notes from the show, I wrote, “Kincaid colours”.
Bermuda is a pretty place and so it is easy to make pretty pictures. Of course there are other sides to Bermuda, but pretty is popular. By the way, pretty is not the same as beautiful.
Pretty and beautiful are two quite different concepts. I understand pretty to mean pleasing and attractive but beautiful means something deeper that excites intellectual and emotional admiration.
Dean Walker’s pastels are often pretty. By that I mean that it has a decorative aspect to it. In some quarters, to call a work decorative is a colossal put-down, but we all have a need for the decorative in our lives, in some way or another. I do not see it as a disparagement at all.
It is just a fact of human need.
In depicting the sea, Walker seems to be striving to find ways to capture this constantly moving element and that is not easy. Photography helps him, however. Indeed, his art is a kind of photo-realism.
In case there are questions about the appropriateness of using photography in making paintings and drawings, there is a 400-year-old history in the use of optical devices in creating art.
SometimesI am questioned about “cheating” in making art, whatever that is supposed to mean; but if by that one implies that using optical devices or simply using tracing paper or light boxes et cetera is cheating, my thinking is that this is just so much “humbug”.
Whatever is useful in creating art is fine with me.
Dean Walker’s pictures are nicely framed. All the frames are similar in style and are either silver or gold.
The style of moulding is simple, somewhat timeless in design and understated.
The exhibition continues through November 22, 2006.
