Wall Works: Harrison D. Walker

Wall Works is a program at the Dodd Galleries where we invite an artist to create a semester long, site-specific wall installation in the Plaza Gallery. Harrison D. Walker’s Portals is a multi-component project exploring color, chemistry and psychological perception. Each Portal is made with the principle of the photogram, utilizing light and pressure, to create endless variations. Similar to a Rorschach Test, each print is a variation of a repeated circular form, which explores how the viewer perceives variations in texture, surface, color, image, and time.

Each sheet of paper is coated with an emulsion or mixture of varying composition, printed using photogram, monoprint and collograph techniques, drawn on, and/or physically altered to achieve each unique print. Using light sensitive Silver Nitrate as a catalyst, many of the prints on display are designed to continue changing over time, revealing subtle shifts in color and tone. This extended exposure allows each print to respond to the environment’s light, temperature, and humidity, resulting in a unique long-term visual experience.

Harrison D. Walker (b. 1988) is an artist living in San Marcos, Texas. His research is driven by interests in the intersections of The Printed Object, The Archive, Chemistry, Astronomy, and Chance; he employs the visual alchemy of printmaking, drawing, and photographic materials to create forms that visually reference the celestial, the post-apocalyptic, and the otherworldly. Walker received an MFA in Photography at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. His work can be found at Corey Daniels Gallery, Wells, Maine; Candela Gallery, Richmond, Virginia; and The Print Center in Philadelphia, PA