Read the Seattle Times’ review of Jason Walker’s current exhibition, “On the River, Down the Road” on view at the Bellevue Arts MuseumÂ
âJason Walker: On the River, Down the Roadâ (through March 1, 2015):Â Nature and man-made landscapes are in pitched battle in this satirical exhibit created especially for BAM. This is Bellingham artist Jason Walkerâs first solo museum show, and it consists of eight ceramic installations.
Some are sculptural in feel. âRedtailâ portrays a deer realistic in shape and proportion, but fanciful in color scheme. It has a highway going down its back (complete with ceramic cars and trucks) and scenes of industry (wind turbines, a hydroelectric dam) painted on its side. Humankind isnât just imposing on this creatureâs habitat; itâs woven into the very fabric of its being.
The same could be said of the two crow-like birds in âSplit Down the Middle, but One Always Wants More.â Theyâre guarding a nest built from iron rods and metal gears, rendered in painted porcelain and stoneware. But instead of fledglings, the nest contains a superhighway with ceramic cars moseying down it between urban high-rises and a rural landscape.
The largest pieces resemble elaborate shrines. âCascadeâ surrounds a painting of a lone wolf in a sylvan setting with semiabstract industrial shapes that all but overwhelm its quiet central scene. âDown the Roadâ serves up a surreal high-rise landscape with a highway at its center that turns into a waterfall pouring over a human hand. Tumbling cars and highflying creatures/objects (a seagull, an airplane) inhabit a frenetic world thatâs spinning toward entropy.
Walkerâs work has an innocent, colorful surface appeal. But his playfulness grows progressively more barbed as you pick out all its details. This is dandy stuff, with a simmering anger behind it.