The Hogar Collection is very pleased to present the upcoming debut solo exhibition by the emerging Brooklyn, New York based artist, Walter Markham. Verticals / Graphites will feature a selection of work taken from two recent series that explore the limitless boundaries of the slight variation. In a mindset where subtlety and ephemerality rule supreme, the works meditate on the process of their making and the evident traces of their individual creations are the focus of the final incarnations. With a pronounced influence in Eastern philosophy, his works are loose, yet obsessive investigations about the duality of sameness and individuality. Magnified through minimal and direct approaches, Markham utilizes an amazing sense of control and freedom that combines with an edge of whimsy. The results are Zen-like explorations that truly bring a refreshing and innovative look at contemporary minimalist abstraction.

In the most recent mixed media series he uses as the base material criteria, un-manipulated planks of found lumber. Using a canvas that has a random and unreliable surface, the planks take on and reveal their compositions from the direct interaction of artistic intervention using materials such as oil paint, collaged canvas, crayon, graphite, tape and the like. Alongside in his series of obsessively rubbed graphite drawings, the dark, light and fluid works are imbued with a sense of simplicity where the subtleties in the application produce compositions of effortless ephemeral moments.

Walter Markham has been in two previous group shows at the gallery, has exhibited in other venues in New York, Chicago and elsewhere, including the Hyde Park Art Center and The University of Indiana. He is the founding curator of The September 11 Photo Project which premiered in New York, traveled to other cities and is now included in the permanent collection of the New York Public Library. Currently he is the directing curator of a forthcoming book of 100 contemporary artists crayon self portraits to be published by Spuyten Duyvil Press in 2009.