ASU Art Musuem exhibit presents outsider perspective on American West

The ASU Art Museum presents a solo exhibition of the work of artist Richard T. Walker, titled “Richard T. Walker: the predicament of always (as we are),” on view Sept. 27 through Jan. 3, 2015 in the Lower Level South Gallery at the museum’s 10th Street and Mill Avenue location.

Walker, a British artist currently living and working in San Francisco, brings an outsider perspective on the landscape of the American West, influenced by the investigation of romantic notions of the sublime. In his new video installation commission for the ASU Art Museum, Walker explores the relationship between landscape and music. Using obsolete forms of music technology, such as 1980s Casio keyboards and Panasonic cassette players, he juxtaposes these and other instruments as static forms of sculpture within a series of photographs that depict mountains, dead trees and cacti from the Texas, Arizona and California deserts. The installation is a multi-layered work that includes video, sound, neon, music instruments and light boxes to create a sound and vision spectacle.

“Richard T. Walker: the predicament of always (as we are)” is curated by Julio César Morales and is generously supported by Carroll/Fletcher Gallery, London, and the Helme Prinzen Endowment.

“Using alternative methods of sound and vision, Walker’s intimate installations and ideas of the sublime bring a renewed understanding of a desert landscape,” explains Morales. “His emotionally charged and innovative approach to experiencing the American West is notably fresh – Walker’s work inspires our human desire to understand and be more than what we are.”

About the artist

Richard T. Walker has shown his work internationally in solo exhibitions at James Cohan Gallery, New York; Carroll/Fletcher, London; Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco; Spike Island, Bristol, U.K.; Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and the Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa. Group exhibitions include “The Text: First Notions and Findings” at Fabra iCoats Center d'Art Contemporani, Barcelona; “Autonomous Regions” at the Guangdong Times Museum, Guandong, China; “Stage Presence” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; “Big Picture,” K21, Dusseldorf, Germany; “The Art of Pop Video” at the Museum fur Angewandte Kunst, Cologne, Germany; “Embodying” at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta; and “Meditators” at the National Museum, Warsaw. Walker lives and works in San Francisco.

Related programs

Gallery Preview and Lecture: Richard T. Walker
6:30-7:30 p.m., Sept. 23, ASU Art Museum
Walker will give a behind-the-scenes tour of the installation of his upcoming exhibition. For more information and to RSVP, visit asuartmuseum.asu.edu.

Exhibition reception
6:30-8:30 p.m., Oct. 2 (with a members, alumni and press preview from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.)

All ASU Art Museum events are free and open to the public.