Walton Ford was born in
1960 in Larchmont, New York. Ford graduated from the Rhode Island
School of Design with the intention of becoming a filmmaker, but
later adapted his talents as a storyteller to his unique style of
large-scale watercolor. Blending depictions of natural history with
political commentary, Ford’s meticulous paintings
satirize
the history of
colonialism
and the continuing impact of slavery and other forms of political
oppression on today’s social and environmental landscape. Each
painting is as much a tutorial in flora and fauna as it is as a
scathing indictment of the wrongs committed by nineteenth-century
industrialists or, locating the work in the present, contemporary
American
consumer society. An enthusiast of the watercolors of John James Audubon,
Ford celebrates the
myth surrounding the renowned naturalist-painter
while simultaneously repositioning him as an infamous anti-hero
who, in reality, killed more animals than he ever painted. Each
of Ford’s animal portraits doubles as a complex,
symbolic system,
which the artist layers with clues, jokes, and erudite lessons in
colonial literature and folktales. Walton Ford is the recipient
of several national awards and honors including a fellowship from
the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the National Endowment
for the Arts. Ford’s work has been featured at Bowdoin College
Museum of Art, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, the
Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion, and the Forum for Contemporary
Art in St. Louis. After living in New York City for more than a
decade, Walton Ford relocated his
studio to Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Ford and his family reside in upstate New York.
For additional biographic & bibliographic information:
Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York | Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles
Walton Ford on the Art21 blog |
