Beyond Price’s Point of View

Hello Fellow Flâneurs! 

This is my first official blog post! I’d like to start out by thanking everyone who has visited this website to read about an introverted Black girl wandering around galleries and giving her unsolicited opinion. Though the beginning of this post is a bit informal, I have a structure that will be clear throughout all my future posts. This structure allows me to explain the art to you all through three different perspectives. The first perspective is through research on the artist and the work. The second perspective is through a series of introducing my favorite pieces and breaking the art down through an academic method of art analysis. The third and last perspective is through my own observation and personal analysis of the work. I will give anecdotal examples and emotional connection to the experience of walking aimlessly through each gallery. I pray that starting out this way is as clear to my audience as it is to me and that the blogs don’t become too academic. I do not strive to write as if I know everything about the artist or their art, instead I’d like to learn new things and hope my readers do too! Most of all I hope to connect with lovers of art galleries and exhibits. Sporadically creating and consuming art brings forth a level of peace in my chaotic life, so I hope this blog post brings you peace as well.

This past week I went to visit the “Pearl Lines” exhibit by Georgia born artist: Walter Price. Price was born in 1989 in Macon. From the minimal interviews I’ve found on him, it seems as though his relationship with his family and going to the Navy have heavily inspired his pursuit of art. In fact, he went to the Navy in order to study art. As a child he would wake up early to catch the sunrise with his mother and continue this tradition as a way of honoring her after her passing. This idea of watching the sunrise also connects to his frequent focus on the horizon line in his work. This reoccurrence of the horizon line in his work harkens back to the reoccurrence of the horizon line out at sea during the navy’s cigarette breaks. Though paintings are what this exhibit focuses on, Price extends his artistic ability to drawings as well. In an interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist and Serpentine Galleries, Price credits his brother as the reason he started drawing. He says he once saw his brother drawing a “banana with urban clothing” and he felt moved to try it himself. During this same interview, Price ends the conversation by saying: “I just tend to try to take all the basic fundamental elements of art and create a very funky painting that’s usually my motivation”. In other words, Price approached the exhibit Pearl Lines no differently than his other works in the numerous exhibits he’s been a part of since 2016. 

As I walked into the gallery I was taken aback by how quiet and empty it was. This was my first time at David Zwirner here in LA, but I had visited a smaller gallery in Paris that reminded me of David Zwirner’s quaint layout. The best way to describe the gallery's atmosphere was peaceful. Our footsteps harmonized with the receptionists typing. But once I stood in front of the first painting, my observation of Price’s work took ownership of my train of thought.  I accidentally viewed the exhibit counter clockwise, so I wonder if my intake of each piece was as intended. Nonetheless, I persisted and enjoyed the work thoroughly. The two particular works that stood out to me were: “ Strabismus” and “What Will Come of What I’m doing today?”. (Fuzzy Dice and Velvet Seats is an honorable mention). 

   “Strabismus” was one of those pieces I looked at and immediately knew I was visually captivated. I wanted to break down each layer, stars first and ocean last. Immediately I noticed the multicolored stars sprawled out over the canvas. Behind this first layer of stars appears to be a blue car driving along an orange road. Next to the orange road is a blue and white oceanic landscape. Above this ocean is a blue and orange sky. As I look at this painting I’m reminded of how important the sea is to Price, and how his time in the Navy shaped his adoration for painting the horizon line. This work specifically signals to his past, but also to the familiarity one has with driving along a coastal road. Personally, this road resembles PCH here in LA. One of my fondest memories was commuting from Woodland Hills, through Topanga Canyon, all the way to Brentwood for weekly therapy sessions. My sister and I listened to Mac Ayers and The Neighborhood as we passed by Will Rogers State Beach. The devastation that the recent LA fires have brought to countless Palisades residents, came about a few days after I had sat at Juicy Ladies on Temescal writing about the joy that the sight of the sea brought me. The beauty is insurmountable and I imagine the pain of losing a home is too. Whether you live by the ocean or you’re just passing through, we’re all craving a peak at the horizon. 

“What Will Come of What I’m Doing Today”, was a favorite for my boyfriend and I. We both admired Price’s emphasis on colorfully chaotic beauty. The canvas is covered with Price’s signature blue background, sprawled out white stars, sporadic black tires, and the vivid red flames. The colors all melt together but maintain their individual outlines to help differentiate each symbol. I associate the collective mayhem of each symbol with the mayhem of a car crash. There's a surreal nature to what you see on the canvas and how a car accident tends to feel. The American iconography in most of Price’s work can reflect the tumultuous nature of our current nation’s political landscape with the addition of personal strife. At least that’s how I viewed it. If the title itself did not already do so, the piece most accurately spoke to my current life situation. This piece hits close to home given I’m working to build a future in such a tumultuous environment where uncertainty supersedes every glimmer of hope. 

Just recently, I uploaded my first YouTube video. It was a vlog that I had been working on for awhile. When I say “working on for a while”, I mean the courage to start filming took longer than the actual filming processes. Ironically, I had gotten into a car crash back in 2023 that left me out of work and back home in LA doing PT for a year. A broken arm and a bachelor's degree was enough to leave me unemployed and feeling stuck. It took me over a year to gain back my confidence in all areas. After working through my rut through spiritual and creative healing, I decided everything I was doing in my “rut” was for a reason. No matter how redundant I might’ve felt my progress was, my anxiety of the future was based in the unknown. Nonetheless, I grew and so did my ideas. I started writing again, consuming art daily, and now I’ve uploaded on a platform I was so used to being a viewer on. Though I continue to feel an indistinguishable mixture of fear and excitement, I will continue to take risks. Price’s message may not have been exactly what I got from this piece, but after doing research on him, it feels appropriate to say he too continues to take risks that furthers his drive to make art. So the next time you’re wandering remember to persist because you never know what will come of what YOU’RE doing today.