Nick Walker (artist)
| Nick Walker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 (age 46–47) |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Graffiti, Street art, Bristol underground scene |
Nick Walker (born 1969)[1] is an established graffiti artist originating from Bristol, England. He is credited with being part of the stencil graffiti movement that Robert Del Naja had started in the 1980s, which was also an influence on Banksy. Walker was invited by film director Stanley Kubrick to recreate the graffiti'd streets of New York for his 1999 film, Eyes Wide Shut.[2]
His paintings often feature a bowler-hatted gentleman 'vandal', which featured in a video by The Black Eyed Peas.[2]
Walker's paintings now sell for large sums of money - in 2006 a spray painted work titled "Moona Lisa" sold for an unexpected £54,000 at Bonhams in London.[3] At a solo exhibition at London's Black Rat Gallery in 2008, £750,000 worth of art was sold, with dozens of people camping outside the gallery overnight.[3]
Walker was a main participant in the 2011 See No Evil event in Bristol, where he painted "perhaps the most striking piece at the event",[4] one of his bowler-hatted gentleman on the side of a tower block in Nelson Street.
Nick Walker was the very first artist-in-residence of the Quin Arts program at the Quin Hotel in New York City—a program that has also hosted Chaz Barrisson, of the street art duo London Police, and Blek le Rat, a French stencil graffiti specialist.[5] Walker created 15 original pieces on-site for the Quin’s permanent collection during his residency in 2013, shortly following the hotel's opening.[6] In February 2016, Nick Walker revisited the Quin to showcase both historic images, as well as a new vocabulary of abstraction. This solo exhibit, curated by DK Johnston, presented 25 original works and opened the hotel’s Quin Arts program for the 2016 season.[7]In November 2016, Walker joined a cohort of fellow former Quin Arts artists-in-residence challenged to use a D’Angelico Guitar as their “canvas,” for an artist salon. His design featured curvilinear numbers resembling musical notes.[8]
Walker still lives in Bristol.[9]
Notable works
- Moona Lisa - painting of the Mona Lisa showing her bottom. Sold in 2006.
- The Morning After New York - painted in 2008 in East Village, New York. The building was threatened with demoltion in 2011.[2]
- Pope - painted on a ticket hut in London for the pontiff's visit in 2010.[10]
References
- ↑ "Nick Walker". See No Evil. Seenoevilbristol.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- 1 2 3 Whitworth, Melissa (17 March 2011). "It wouldn't happen to Banksy: 'The Morning After New York' to be demolished". The Telegraph (London) blog. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- 1 2 "Banksy's Rival Nick Walker Sells 750,000 Pounds of Street Art". Bloomberg.com. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- ↑ Cullen, Miguel (26 August 2011). "Graffiti gets the star treatment in Bristol". The Independent (London). Retrieved 2012-09-09.
Nick Walker was author of perhaps the most striking piece at the event, a 20-metre mural on the front of a tower block, of a sinister man in a black bowler hat dripping a bucket of red paint over the cement.
- ↑ Dawson, Gloria. "Graffitist in Residence? It's the Latest Hotel Amenity". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
- ↑ "NYC Events | Luxury Central Park Hotel | the Quin". www.thequinhotel.com. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
- ↑ "Street Art in Midtown: Nick Walker as Curated by DK Johnston Marks Launch of 2016 Quin Arts Season, January 21". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
- ↑ Eller, Matthew. "Preview: D'Angelico Guitars as Reimagined by 14 Artists Featuring Nick Walker, Above, AVSP, and many more NYC". Street Art News. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
- ↑ Wright, Steve (2007). Banksy's Bristol: Home Sweet Home. Bath: Tangent Books. p. 4. ISBN 9781906477004.
- ↑ Gleadell, Colin (20 September 2010). "Art Market News: Dealers compete for Pope graffiti at British art fair". The Telegraph (London). Retrieved 2012-09-09.