New Zealand artist Jake Walker works across painting, sculpture, video and installation, inverting cultural expectations and artistic conventions through his practice.
For Discoveries at Art Basel Hong Kong Walker presented a new series of minimal paintings in ceramic frames inspired by New Zealand architect Ian Athfield, accompanied by a floor-based installation. The installation entailed a series of clumsy artist-made laptops, constructed of two canvas panels. The works consider the difference between viewing an art object in actuality, compared to its representation on screen. Through this device Walker attempted to reassert the quiet power of painting. With the abundance of contemporary art imagery consumed through the Internet, a condition typical to most audiences but particularly pertinent to geographically distanced Australian and New Zealand artists, this is an important conversation to take place in an art fair, which in many ways have become the physical manifestation of online art browsing.