Bill Walton
March 1–April 27, 2013

Amy Adams, in collaboration with John Ollman of Fleisher/Ollman Gallery in Philadelphia, is pleased to announce the opening of Adams and Ollman. Located in Portland, Oregon, the gallery will specialize in 20th century self-taught American artists and contemporary artists whose practices reflect an intuitive influence. Adams and Ollman's inaugural exhibition, a solo presentation of sculptures and drawings by Bill Walton, will be on view from March 1–April 27, 2013.

This debut solo exhibition of Walton’s work in Portland is comprised of a selection of works created throughout the artist’s career. Walton used everyday materials such as wood, metal, cloth, paper, and glass, both new and repurposed. Walton’s works allow mundane materials, imbued with their own distinct histories, to be remarkable in and of themselves, thus revealing the truly sublime. By the same token, works make unexpected turns and transformations as opposing dynamics are laid bare; heaviness nods to playfulness, force gives way to grace, simplicity confronts complexity, and seriousness is lined with mischief.

Walton also toyed with ideas surrounding medium specificity, such that two-dimensional works behave like their three-dimensional counterparts by referencing or adopting common gestures like folding, stacking, and turning. Sculptures in turn establish a clear relationship to painting and drawing. Walton’s love of nature and landscape are a driving presence throughout his work, as is his enduring emphasis on skilled craftsmanship.

Bill Walton (1935-2010) was born in Camden, New Jersey and briefly studied at the Institute of Design in Chicago before moving to Philadelphia in 1964 where he worked as a commercial printmaker and later an instructor at Moore College of Art and Design (1974-1990). His work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. at institutions such as the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia and is included in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Yale University Gallery and Wellesley College.

installation view: Bill Walton


installation view: Bill Walton


installation view: Bill Walton


installation view: Bill Walton


Bill Walton
Red Floor / White Floor, n.d.
wood, paint, brass leaf
10 5/8 x 5 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches
BW-0738


Bill Walton
Red Floor / White Floor, n.d.
wood, paint, brass leaf
10 5/8 x 5 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches
BW-0738


Bill Walton
1/4 Turn, n.d.
wood, pigmented wax, graphite
9 x 10 x 10 inches
BW-0775


Bill Walton
1/4 Turn, n.d.
wood, pigmented wax, graphite
9 x 10 x 10 inches
BW-0775


Bill Walton
Paint Brushes, n.d.
wood, metal, paint brushes
8 1/4 x 3 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches
BW-0813


Bill Walton
Four Fold, n.d.
folded linen, paint
7 x 4 1/2 inches
BW-0557


Bill Walton
Folded newspaper, n.d.
charcoal on paper, newspaper,
lead pencil
7 1/2 x 7 x 3/8 inches
BW-0889


Bill Walton
Small sculpture (pencil, steel), n.d.
pencil, steel
2 1/4 x 2 1/2 x 3 inches
BW-1011