Paintings and Stories by J. Michael Walker ♦ February 29 — September 7
About the Exhibit
Where is the soul of a city? Is it in its asphalt streets? Its buildings of concrete and steel? Does its heart lay in its history? Its moments of progressive triumph and cultural defeat? Or is it the people, from the hilltop elite to the forgotten and forlorn, who shape a city's essence? Might it not be all of these, a grand soul greater than the sum of its parts?
In All the Saints of the City of the Angels, artist J. Michael Walker uses the saints and the streets bearing their names to uncover the soul of Los Angeles, the City of the Angels.
Los Angeles is home to 103 streets named for saints, hearkening back to the time when Spanish settlers bestowed upon new territories the names of saints to invoke their protection. Thanks to land developers and urban planners who continued the tradition, the saints still live among us. They walk our streets, ride the Metro, and shoot hoops in neighborhood recreation centers. Their presence provides counterpoint to the popular image of L.A. as a city of conflict, hedonism, and simmering rage.
By connecting the stories of the saints with the people and places of L.A., Walker illuminates the many facets of Los Angeles' multicultural heritage, from a troubled past including forced Native labor and greedy land developers to a contemporary landscape of economic chasms and newly built cultural bridges. Walker's work reveals the tragedies and triumphs of Los Angeles's residents and lays bare the complex realities of urban living. Most important, it infuses all with the hope that we may yet live up to the standards set by our saintly protectors and the recognition that our neighbors may well be the "saints" to whom we need to turn.
The soul of Los Angeles is rich with complexities and contradictions, much like the saints and streets they inhabit. Let the art and stories of All the Saints of the City of the Angels serve as your map as you journey through the soul of Los Angeles.
About the Artist / Author
Arkansas-born, J. Michael Walker came to Los Angeles by way of Mexico—a critical stopover that "explained" L.A. to him: its historical, thriving roots churning beneath the asphalt.
Years of creating thoughtful narrative artworks grounded in the culture of rural Mexico-centered mainly on her patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and other saints-prepared J. Michael for an examination of the "patron saints" of the streets of Los Angeles.
Availing himself of local archives; amassing a library of rare nineteenth- and early twentieth-century books, photographs, and ephemera about Southern California and the hagiography of saints; and walking each of the 103 saint-streets in the city of Los Angeles and "seeking the spirit of the saint" on its namesake street, J. Michael dedicated seven years to what he calls his "loopy valentine to the City of the Angels."
An exhibiting artist since 1984, J. Michael Walker has participated in more than 100 exhibitions and has received a dozen grants, fellowships, and residencies. He has also enjoyed solo shows at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard; el Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares, Mexico City; the National Museum of Catholic Art and History, East Harlem, New York City; and the Arkansas Arts Center; among others.
J. Michael, his saintly wife Mimí, and their amazing son Jacobo reside in a small but rambling house near Downtown Los Angeles, surrounded by fruit trees, gigantic koi, the occasional coyote and raccoon, and a never-ending chorus of Southern California songbirds.
Note: The opinions expressed in paintings and stories by J. Michael Walker are his, and not necessarily those of the Autry National Center.