Here’s some chilling new watercolor work from Walton Ford, that is, if you spot the ethical parallel between yourself and these monkeys jerking it while choking the throat of a helpless bird in the clasp of its opposable thumb. Delicate, detailed, intricate and giant, the series is part close ups of cinema’s 1933 King Kong crying mid “the grief of the unlovable” and part illustrations of a diary entry by the ornithologist John James Audubon (1785-1851). Read more »
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- “Borodino” by Walton Ford
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- “The Island” by Walton Ford
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- “Chaumière de Dolmancé” by Walton Ford
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- “An Encounter with Du Chaillu” by Walton Ford
Wolves gnawing on dead soldiers, a gorilla with a gun in its mouth and an aroused monkey fondling its noose: these are not images that typify the naturalist style which Walton Ford employs. Characterizing his work as a “cultural history of the way animals live in the human imagination,” the Massachusetts-based artist paints large-format watercolors of frequently violent wildlife encounters, noting that “before Fay Wray comes to Skull Island, King Kong isn’t doing anything. There’s no story until she shows up.” Ford’s historically-styled animal illustrations are currently on view at Chelsea’s Paul Kasmin Gallery.
“New Work,” November 12 – December 23, Paul Kasmin Gallery, 293 Tenth Ave
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