Walton Ford

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 25 large-format works by the artist from the last ten years.

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.

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 color, his pictures open up a view of a reality that we have long since suppressed or forgotten.