It has been a long held ambition of mine to show Walton Ford’s prints in London and I am now delighted to be presenting this comprehensive exhibition.
I remember clearly how captured I was the first time I saw an aquatint by Walton, over 15 years ago. My interest in printmaking as well as a fascination with Audubon made the work immediately compelling.
It is impossible to view these prints and not be struck by Walton’s mastery of the traditional and very complicated colour aquatint technique. The time, knowledge, and technical ability required to make these prints cannot be under stated. Together with his printer Peter Pettengill, Walton has made a truly remarkable body of prints.
Beyond their technical mastery, the subjects Walton addresses in his work – social histories, global politics, environmental destruction – make these often complicated, dark narratives hugely relevant to our modern world.
The combination of their historic character and contemporary narratives gives a tension to this work that is hugely compelling - they are charged in equal measure with the weight of the past and the responsibilities of the future.
- Lyndsey Ingram
