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"Room for Two," 8 by 10 inches, oil on panel
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"S. Broad St.," 36 by 48 inches, oil on panel
Who: Steven Walker
Exhibit: "Ten:Thirty"
Where: Glavé Kocen Gallery
When: Sept. 8-30
Steven Walker got his first big break in 2007 when his artwork won an award in a Richmond Illustrators Club competition and exhibition at Plant Zero. Walker, a Virginia Commonwealth University graduate, had been working as a commercial illustrator for about five years, living paycheck to paycheck. He was feeling discouraged and artistically frustrated. When Jennifer Glavé and B.J. Kocen saw his work at Plant Zero, everything changed. Walker recalls that Kocen, “pressed me up against a wall and said, ‘We’ve got to talk.’ ”
The couple were about to open an art gallery, and they invited Walker to exhibit his work during their inaugural show. In September, Walker’s work will again be on display at Glavé Kocen to kick off the gallery’s 10th year.
“To me, he’s symbolic of where we began and the artists we’ve cultivated and created a market for in Richmond and beyond,” Kocen says. “Instead of doing a big group show, we wanted to feature someone we grew up with.” And Kocen does not dispute Walker’s account of their first meeting: “I basically tackled our first Glavé Kocen gallery artist,” he says, laughing. “His work just knocked me out, and I had to represent him. It hit me in the gut.”
“After [that first show at Glavé Kocen] I realized I could actually be something,” Walker recalls. Today, he is represented by seven galleries from Oklahoma to Atlanta to Washington, D.C., and devotes himself to painting full time, focusing on traditional landscapes and contemporary nocturnal scenes. Whether he’s painting a landscape or a night scene, “It’s all about the intensity of the light,” Walker says. “Streetlights, sunlights, brake lights … it’s all about the light.”
Walker will show 30 of his nocturnal paintings at Glavé Kocen, featuring scenes of Richmond, “some more identifiable than others,” he says. Though Walker now lives in Georgia, he still has family in Richmond and travels here often. He paints using photographs he has taken as reference. The exhibition title, “Ten:Thirty,” not only refers to a time of darkness, but also to the 30 paintings in the show, all of which feature the number 10 in some way to recognize Glavé Kocen’s decade in business.
Nancy Murphy Spicer, "You Always Overdo It," 2016, acrylic and oil on canvas
Don't Miss: In “Hiding in Plain Site” at Page Bond Gallery, Nancy Murphy Spicer showcases recent works featuring visible brushwork, allusive materials and abstract shapes applied to a variety of surfaces. Shown with works by Amy Chan. Sept. 8-30. 1625 W. Main St., 804-359-3633 or pagebondgallery.com.
