The Golden Bough: Corban Walker

Corban Walker has gained recognition for his installations, sculptures, and drawings that relate to perceptions of scale and architectural constructs. Local, cultural, and personal philosophies of scale are fundamental to how he defines and develops his work.

Walker’s installation of sheets of Perspex presents the viewer with an environment that challenges their conditioned relationship to their surroundings. In ‘Mapping Hugh Lane’ he creates new means for viewers to interact and navigate the space of gallery eight. His response to the Golden Bough theme is primarily related to a process of defining how he metaphorically and physically negotiates the museum context. This is now mapped out to accommodate a different mode of access.

A striking metaphor for the acceptance of the shock of the new and the avant garde in the cathedral that makes up art history is the myth of The Golden Bough. It has operated widely in the development of human society, producing in varied circumstances, a variety of institutions, specifically different but generically alike. A candidate for the priesthood in this cathedral can only succeed to office by slaying the resident priest, and having slain him, he retains office till he is himself slain by a stronger or a craftier contender.

Applying this theme as underlining support structure for showcasing significant art practices, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane has invited distinguished contemporary artists to exhibit in Gallery eight of Charlemont House. Thus placing them in direct dialogue with an institutional and historical context.

Profile

Corban Walker (b. 1967, Dublin, Ireland) gained recognition for his installations, sculptures, and drawings that relate to perceptions of scale and architectural constructs. His local, cultural, and specific philosophies of scale are fundamental to how he defines and develops his work, creating new means for viewers to interact and navigate their surroundings.

Walker graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, in 1992. Since then, he has mounted several solo exhibitions internationally and has realized important public art commissions worldwide. Walker’s work is part of numerous public and private collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York and the Irish Museum of Art, Dublin. Since 2008, he has attended many international residency programs including MacDowell in New Hampshire, USA; Casa Wabi in Oaxaca, Mexico and Atelier Calder in Saché, France.

Walker represented Ireland at the 54^th Venice International Art Biennale in 2011. He received the Pollock Krasner Award in 2015