John Isiah Walton
Black Paintings: 5th Ward Landscapes
ARTIST STATEMENT
In my Black Paintings: 5th Ward Landscapes, I begin with a black ground—a space that functions as both void and origin. From this darkness, the landscape of New Orleans’ 5th Ward emerges through layered gestures: white outlines, electric color, and restless, searching marks. The process is reactionary. I build each painting through response rather than planning, allowing memory, intuition, and distortion to guide what becomes visible.
These works are not literal depictions but lived impressions. Familiar structures—gardens, pathways, architecture—shift between recognition and abstraction. They hover in a space where presence and disappearance coexist. The black surface carries more than atmosphere; it holds density—humidity, history, erosion, and the unseen weight of place.
Color operates with urgency against this ground. Neon greens, heated yellows, and saturated blues push forward, resisting collapse into darkness. My linework moves like a mapping system—part organic growth, part digital code—suggesting that the landscape is alive, layered, and constantly in flux.
Rooted in New Orleans, the 5th Ward becomes a site of transformation rather than documentation. I am not interested in recording what is there as much as revealing how it feels to exist within it—where beauty, neglect, memory, and imagination overlap. These paintings hold tension between clarity and obscurity, inviting viewers to navigate what is seen, what is hidden, and what must be felt.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
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.
This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from Randell Henry and David Scott Smith. All works from these artists are on view, free of charge, during regular gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m., Tue - Sun) from May 29 - Jun 24, 2026.