Walker Pickering is about to open an exhibition of a project that he has been working on for close to three years. Nearly West will open at the B. Hollyman Gallery in Austin on May 3rd and run through June 1st. The opening reception is on May 7th.

I first featured Walker’s work on LENSCRATCH last year, when I wrote: “Walker’s new series, Nearly West, reflects a visual resonance through color, design, and pacing. There is a stillness, yet a symphony in his work, where the sounds of water, crickets, wind, and nothingness wash away brilliant colors, leaving the traces of his visual memories.”

This series is inspired by the open road and the temporary relation it provides. Walker captures rural roads, urban and natural landscapes, and traces of the people who live there in a way that transcends the banality of these everyday markers. The images are distinct in mood, each with a balancing peacefulness.

Walker received his MFA in photography from Savannah College of Art and Design, and currently teaches photography at the Art Institute of Austin. He has participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions, and has been a photographer for the Texas House of Representatives, as well as darkroom printer for photographer and screenwriter, Bill Wittliff.

Images from Nearly West