16/6/2010
Walton Ford
Albertina, Wien
Bestiarium. Always as large as life and rendering every detail, Walton Ford's animal watercolors strike us as contrary to the zeitgeist at first sight, thus immediately questioning established expectations concerning the contemporary aesthetics' complex of rules. In their old masterly style, Walton Ford's gloriously colorful pictures recall and quote famous nineteenth-century artists' portrayals of nature and animals.
Curated by Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Albertina
Britta Schmitz, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin
The work of the American artist Walton Ford (born in 1960) will be presented by the Albertina for
the first time in Austria in an exhibition on show as of June 18, 2010. The presentation comprises 22
large-format works by the artist from the last ten years.
All of Ford’s works radiate something disconcerting and eerie: a wild turkey crushing a little parrot
between its claws, a horde of monkeys devastating a laid table, a buffalo surrounded by a pack of
bloodstained wolves amidst a well-kept French garden. Ford’s technique of painting relies on the
proven method of the scientific draftsman. As irritating in their style as bewildering in their
contents, his works breathe an oppressing familiarity. With titles such as “An Encounter with Du
Chaillu,” “Borodino,” “The Sensorium,” or “Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London,” his drawings
blur the dividing line between man and animal and push open the door to a realm of fantasies,
dreams, and nightmares.
Always as large as life and rendering every detail, Walton Ford’s animal watercolors strike us as
contrary to the zeitgeist at first sight, thus immediately questioning established expectations
concerning the contemporary aesthetics’ complex of rules. In their old masterly style, Walton Ford’s
gloriously colorful pictures recall and quote famous nineteenth-century artists’ portrayals of nature
and animals. They seem to echo past colonial times and combine things supposed to be overcome
with topical scenes. In his narrative works, Ford proves to be an artist who varies a world handed
down in order to unfold a visual universe of infinitely complex and irritating allusions. His animal
pictures testify to the comprehensive art-historical and scientific knowledge he can avail himself of
in his quest for analogies between yesterday and today. They constitute a contemporary “bestiary”
of impressive imaginative power.
Walton Ford was born in 1960 in Larchmont in the state of New York and now lives in the mountains
of The Berkshires in Massachusetts. Even from an early age, the various exhibits in the Museum of
Natural History in New York held a fascination over him. In particular, Ford embarked on an
intimate study of the works of the US American ornithologist and drawer of animals, John
James Audubon (1785-1851). Walton Ford's search for finding analogies between the past
and the present day has led to a series of pictures, created from the 1990s onwards, in which
he superimposes intricate natural history depictions with current perceptions and
critical commentaries, as well as adding quotes from literary sources from past centuries,
rendered in the style of the old masters. In his works, which can be seen as satires on
political oppression and the exploitation of the environment, he casts doubt on the adage
of the ‘ever new' and the ‘ever better' that has held sway ever since the Renaissance. At
the same time he raises questions on a diverse range of set expectations and established rules in
contemporary aesthetics. In glorious colour, his pictures open up a view of a reality that we have
long since suppressed or forgotten.
The artist conscientiously presents himself as an outsider in the contemporary art world through his
body of work, which stands out today as truly singular and has already garnered great attention in
the USA.
The exhibition “Walton Ford. Bestiarium” is realized in cooperation between the
Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin and the Albertina.
Catalogue Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra
Bill Buford, Walton Ford
The 320-page catalogue published by TASCHEN Verlag in a trilingual edition
(German/English/French) will be available in the Albertina Shop and at
www.albertina.at for 51,40 euros.
Guided tours Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays 3:30 p.m., Wednesdays 6:30 p.m.,
60 minutes, T+43 (01) 534 83-540, besucher@albertina.at
Press office Mag. Verena Dahlitz (head)
T +43 (01) 534 83-510, M +43 (0)699.121 78 720, v.dahlitz@albertina.at
Corinna Queisser (assistance)
T +43 (01) 534 83-511, M +43 (0)699.109 81 743, c.queisser@albertina.at
Image: Walton Ford, A Monster From Guiny, 2007
Watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on paper
© Walton Ford, Courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery
Press conference June 17, 2010, 10 a.m.
Opening June 17, 2010, 6:30 p.m.
Albertina - Pfeilerhalle
Albertinaplatz, 1 Wien
Opening hours Thursday –Tuesday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Wednesday 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Adults € 9,50, Senior citizens € 8,00
Students (up to age 26) € 7,00