john isiah walton

John Isiah Walton was born in 1985 in New Orleans, where he currently lives and works. He depicts subjects that are often unconventional and, at times, shocking. Walton works in a reactionary mode. His visual language is influenced by internet aesthetics, black identity, pop culture, and Louisiana history. The frenetic, choppy brushwork endows the work with the energy and intensity that the artist is known for. Walton often uses wit and irony to address the constructs of race and class with both irreverence and sensitivity, merging politically correct discourse with politically incorrect humor.

Walton has exhibited and continues to show in museums, galleries, art fairs, and biennials worldwide. The Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art (Biloxi, MS); Southeastern Louisiana University (Hammond, LA); The Front (New Orleans); P339 (Brooklyn, NY); Atlanta Contemporary Biennial (Atlanta); Barrister's Gallery (New Orleans); Identity Books (Graham, NC). Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans); Tulane University (New Orleans); New Orleans Museum of Art (New Orleans); Art Lab Akiba (Ginza, Tokyo); Untitled Art Projects (Los Angeles); Home Space (New Orleans) among others. His residencies include the Macedonia Institute (Chatham, NY) and the Joan Mitchell Center (New Orleans). Walton was the first African American member of the artist collective The Front and a founding member of both The Level Artist Collective and the Second Story Gallery. He has lectured about his work to the graduate program at UNC, Chapel Hill, and has work in the permanent collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art.