Douglas Walker’s Winter Wonderlands
Two things immediately come to mind when looking at Douglas Walker‘s gorgeous oil paintings. One is blue and white china, the other is window frost, its infinite and fragile patterns. Walker paints strange fruit, snow maidens, crystalline architectural marvels and abstract designs that look, to me, like the mating rituals of otherworldly insects.
Walker’s work reminds me of a Russian children’s story called Snegurochka (“Girl of Snow”). In the version I remember, an old childless couple make a girl out of snow, and suddenly she comes alive. They are overjoyed, and take care of her all winter. When spring comes, she wants to play outside, but they don’t want to let her go out. Finally they give in, and she runs out to play in the sun. As the warm rays hit her skin she melts away, gone forever. Apparently there was also a longer version of this story with more sexual overtones. At any rate, there’s something ethereal about Walker’s work that gives me the same feeling as that story. (Bonus for the Russians in the ‘haüs: Walker’s work also recalls this poem, which I can’t find an English translation for.)
See them all on his site, with some favorites after the jump.
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Oh my. I think I’m in love.
Thanks for sharing these.
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
His work is very beautiful; I love how organic and alive it seems, as if he had poured a drop of blue paint onto the surface and it spontaneously ‘sprouted’ and twisted and swirled about the canvas as the image coalesced out of it. A wonderfully ethereal and netherworldy escape I think, and unique to him. Even in his earlier works you can catch the attachment to the sublime and unearthly movements and imagery.
I also love his old photography works!
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
omg wow!!!!!
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Definitely dredging up memories I have no right to, of alien creatures, perhaps slightly friendlier than Lovecraft’s beasties.
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Beautiful stuff! Gads, again with the Russians, someone somewhere aughta post a Beginner’s Guide to the Russians, ’cause there’s obviously a gaping hole in my experience….
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:41 pm
So much detail! Beautiful.
April 26th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
It took me a few days to figure out what his work reminded me of and it was that of late 70’s and early 80’s European comic artists. They used a lot of similar compositions in both cityscapes and in highlighting certain characters or key scenes in the story. More so its those beautiful blues and the way it swims in color. Yeah it also reminds one of work from the turn of the century to a degree but it’s a great mix of modern and classic aesthetics…I’ll definitely check out more of his work.
April 28th, 2009 at 1:11 am
I’m so madly, deeply in love with this stuff. Excellent find, dearie.