Richard Walker’s practice is rooted in direct observation. Often using his own studio as a starting point, Walker’s paintings depict the physical and metaphorical complexity of the visible world. Operating in the liminal space between representation and abstraction, these are works in which light, a perennial consideration for painters, is of central concern. Light and shadow reveal and conceal objects, describe and obscure the environment, orientate us in space. Order and chaos, and the sometimes disturbing transitions from recognisable identity to indeterminacy, confuse and deny a complete understanding of the images meaning. Walker works across two formats within his practice. Smaller, more intimate paintings, which are usually executed in one sitting in what the artist has described as an almost ‘performative’ state. The labour-intensive larger pieces can take months to complete. A detailed drawing is cut from a sheet of ply, each cut piece is individually painted, then reassembled into a whole. These complex works stem from Walker’s fascination with the traditional method of Japanese wood block printing. When applied to a large-scale painting, this specific technique enables the introduction of painterly effects unique to this approach. Partly influenced from his time working as a scene-painter for the Scottish Opera and from a residency at a Palladian mansion in Selkirk, the studio environment becomes a kind of stage. Studio windows are blacked out to achieve a controlled, dramatic lighting, while images from multiple sources, are projected into the space.