I tend to live in a bubble of work, work, and more work, and so don’t have much contact with the world of current events except through the blogs I read (I’d say that’s sadly pretty much standard operation for many of us in Sili-Valley). So I only just became aware of artist Walton Ford.

Ford paints huge watercolors of animals, in the style of 19th-century naturalist artists. But this isn’t just pretty wildlife art.  This is  “ironic” art (ironic is a word I find overused in the art world-it seems apologetic to me and I wish people would stop using it to explain away their personal penchants. Just paint, for heaven’s sake. Let the viewer decide if it’s ironic or not.).  Each painting tells a little narrative about the animal, referencing a history that is often gruesome.

I do like his art—he’s a good watercolorist, and has a wicked sense of humor. But I wonder how long he can sustain this theme, which seem to amount to commentary.

Anyhow, I’m cutting this post short because I cut off the tip of my index finger the other day and typing is not so easy. Besides, I want to go paint.

Check out these links for more information about Ford.

An old post by Roz Stendahl at her blog RozWoundUp, which is where I learned of Ford. (Follow her link to the Taschen site.)

An NY Times article about Ford will give you an idea of what he’s about..

A PBS site where you can see some of Ford’s work,  some biographical stuff, plus some video.

The Kasmin Gallery website where you can download a bunch of press articles about Ford.

And an interview with Ford that made me think about what I want to accomplish with my own work.