Interview with Douglas Walker

"#A-498, Frondescent International Style”, 2009, oil on panel (framed), 44 x 32 inches

What are the numbers about?
Throughout all of my career I have always left my works untitled.
I use a numbering system to more easily keep track of the many studies and tests that I do to develop materials and technique as well as the finished paintings. I don’t use titles because I don’t like to place any layer of interpretation between the work and the impressions of the viewer. I believe the work takes on its own meaning and has its own resonance for each person who see is it. I don’t want to limit anyone’s interpretation and wish to leave the viewer free to form their own association with the work. In the blue and white series I began to make many studies and tests to devlop materials and techniques. To keep track of what was happening I started standardized notes in a binder with each test given a number. At first I started keeping numbers for tests and those for paintings separate but that got complicated so to simplify I just put all into the same system. So in A-492 the A stands for 1000 making it #1492 in my chronology of things I've made. The majority of things I've made are tests and studies; I've done hundreds upon hundreds of them. It does not mean I’ve made 1,492 paintings.

Why are the numbers painted on the front?
I see the numbers on the front as a kind of signature.
Also I am drawn to making something other than a painting. Its the logic of the blue and white series that putting the numbers on the front makes these paintings documents or ongoing studies in a project that has no end. Although it will stand on its own, the number declares the paintings position in the flow and its link to a greater project.

Why is it titled #A-487, Nimbus Grid?
The works are all untitled and the numbering system is not so much as a title as a means of keeping track of the works. I have avoided naming my works over the years because I don’t like to place any layer of interpretation between the work and the impressions of the viewer. I believe the work takes on its own meaning and has its own resonance for each person who see is it. I don’t want to limit anyone’s interpretation and wish to leave the viewer free to form their own association with the work. At the same time I understand that without something to start the process of association with the work, something that gives the viewer a 'handle' he or she may find it difficult to begin to access the work. So I want to give the viewer an opening or an invitation to begin their own interpretation and so provide a 'nickname' based on a simple association to get things going. Also this makes it easier for people who are handling the works such as my studio assistant or the gallery to distinguish between them in the everyday tasks of organizing, framing etc.
"#A-487, Nimbus Grid”, 2009, oil on panel (framed), 44 x 32 inches

Why only blue and white?
In the blue and white series I am describing a world of my own making. It’s a world where I have total visual control and can make up anything. I’ve created buildings, objects, flora, atmospheric phenomena and peopled it. Color would confuse that sense of another world, it would bring it back to earth. The blue and white series moves off of this planet, it is 'not here'. It doesn’t seem strange that many of the paintings have a science fiction feel. I've been blogged a lot and I’ve often noted the description of my work in one form or another as ' another blue world' and I'm happy with that.

What's going on in this one?
A-457, A-480 - Baroque Initial Series
In this series, I was looking for a way to start an abstract painting that would allow me to explore texture and technique. The starting point is a Baroque decorative alphabet from Germany, 1600s. They are called Majuscules, all caps, meant to header a paragraph and are amazingly complex. I project these intricate series of lines and shapes, sometimes zooming in on a section of the initial as in the two pieces in the Plus show. They become like Rorsharch blots. This is an interesting place to start from, a series of curves, which I develop into textures, that through play and experimentation, come to vaguely resemble things like fronds, garlands, cotton balls, marbles, pom poms, feathers, jewels, fur, leaves, eggs etc. I don’t want them to look too much like any one thing, I like to keep the associations going and that’s where the almostness of the textures becomes important. I want them to look like things but not like something real.


"#A-457, Pearled Baroque Initial”, 2009, oil on panel (framed), 44 x 32 inches

A-498 - I made an accurate 2 point perspective drawing of a building of a particular style and built an easel that allowed me to make marks in perspective. From there I devloped a means of making brush strokes in perspective and so was able to make a somewhat 'realistic' building but done in with vegetative or 'fronded' brush strokes. Again something familiar but dreamy.

A-487 - An attempt to merge industrial, atmospheric, architectural and vegatative into a landscape. I start with a accurate 2 point perspective grid and on it hang these merged motifs.
What are the major influences on these paintings?
Probably the greater linking influence on these paintings is my interest in outsider art and art of the insane. I first came across this genre in art school and was strongly impressed by how intense visual interest was created from an unconcious process. Outsider artists seemed to intrinsically know what to paint and that expression of an inner state I found fascinating. I have tried to devlop an intrinsic means of devloping an image, of using unconcious process.
For more specific paintings ....

a lot of the vegatative elements probably stem from growing up in the country where my father kept a large garden. I had a childhood with a great exposure to plants.

I have always had a great interest in architecture, and during high school worked for a local contractor making presentation drawings. A favourite genre is architectural perspective drawings. I also look at a lot of architectural photography.

I look at a lot of blue ceramics/delftware. Just down the street is a antiques dealer with a large collection. I often go there.

I've always been interested in science fiction books, movies and illustration. I like the way stuff seems strange and alien but there is always an intuitive connection to link it to this world.

I look at a lot of images, I cull so much off the internet that I have amassed something like 15000 images into my iphoto files. A favourite thing to do is to browse these images. So I have a pretty wide range of minor influences way to numerous to mention.


How are these paintings made?
I combine a variety of high quality traditional oil painting materials to make uncommon archival mediums. These make for an unusual appearance and allow me to work wet into wet for considerable periods. Most of the paintings are done in one or two sittings. I have spent a considerable time researching paint mediums and have evolved I use a wide variety of tools and brushes to make the marks. I modify and make my own brushes and sometimes use templates, T-squares, airbrush and spray guns. The support is masonite panel and they are varnished.

What sort of work do you plan to make in the future?
I feel there are enough options to explore in the blue and white to last for the rest of my career. I'm planning on making some larger (4 x 5') paintings and more elaborate 3-D buildings. Also I plan to continue many of the series that are underway now as well as returning to some portraiture. There are plans to make some very large folded paper paintings that would be intended for museum shows.