The Art of James Walker
Friday, June 5th, from 6pm –
Midnight
National Harbor, MD

Local artist James Walker’s insightful and honest new works reflect on the
current moment and the fleeting nature of time. The exhibition will include
paintings, photographs, books and collage works that together are a collection
of moments, insights and ideas that evolve from Walker’s constant documentation
of the world around him. He describes his work as focused on the ideas of living
in the present moment and never taking anything for granted. Walker’s works
strike a deeply personal chord leaving viewers both lost in the moment and
somehow more aware of the present at the same
time.
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Friday, June 5th, from 6pm – Midnight
Location:
173
Waterfront St.
National Harbor, MD 20745
Show end date: July
3rd
Music by DJ Fleg
Special Musical Performance by Once Okay
Twice
Food Samplings and After party by Public House!
The event is
FREE and open to the public.
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James Walker’s
Artist Statement:
…..I never made a conscious decision to become an
artist, it’s something I’ve always done for as long as I can remember, I make
pictures and draw and paint and collage debris and objects as intuitively as
possible and I’ve never specialized in anything except making the best art that
I can and I don’t often think of myself as an artist but more of a sociologist
or philosopher…..my background is in photojournalism and I take a documentary
approach to everything I do with my work and I feel that my most successful
images are ones that develop as a natural extension of existing
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….all of my amalgamations are nothing more than a
feverish attempt to create some sort of semi-tangible cohesion out of everyday
experiences through obsessive collection of imagery and stories and adventures
that I compile as the proof of life lived to bring a general awareness that
every second exists for just that and at the same time facilitating this idea
the only way I can, through my artwork, all of it being the cliff notes to my
inclusion in this maelstrom of existence, examining the fact that everything is
in a constant state of fluctuation, deterioration, and reconstruction, never
lasting more than two blinks of an eye which may be why humans invented the
concept of measuring time while we fruitlessly strive to sustain and avoid any
contact with the inevitable thermodynamic deconstruction of our selves and
everything we see as real and I’m enamored with the idea that everything is
beautifully entropic and nothing will ever retain, permanently, its current
physical form,
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which is why I try be mindful of the present
moment, the only thing that is not simulacra, without which we would have
neither the future nor the past (both of which carry significance only as
stubborn illusions), and with the realization that the present moment is the
only thing that truly exists I gather information and juxtapose found treasures
all decomposing and beautifully dancing in wonderful objectification with images
in various states of archival-ness (frequently subconsciously depicting all too
clearly our own frailty taken for granted) and I am helping to organize an
introspection and focus that is easily lost in the cellularphonic espresso-paced
world that I am also contently enveloped in, intensifying awareness of the
swirling cacophony and freneticism of it all and all of the feelings and
emotions colliding, and as I work I just let the chaos flow without judgment,
acknowledging its existence as neither good nor bad, just that it is there, with
hopes of creating nothing that is stale but instead just as alive as the
subjects it depicts...
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Special Musical
Performance by Once Okay Twice
Most people like to do things once, we like to do
them TWICE! Join the never ending party that is Once Okay Twice…
The list
keeps growing, but we've been compared to: Kings of Leon, Bloc Party, Broken
Social Scene, The Cure, the Clash, with a dash of Incubus/Weezer(-esgue)
charm--- Add in a killer string section via violin and a soulful indie chamber
music type sound and you'll get ONCE OKAY TWICE. One might say we draw from a
lot of influences to create a unique upbeat bouncy indie vibe. We are
unabashedly a DC party band with a hint of 80’s flair---so grab a cold one, grab
your girl or guy and just try not to dance…we dare you!
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