Brent Walker

Orange County based sculptor, Brent Walker, has been making a career in the commissioned art world for nearly two decades.  His interest in art began as soon as he could hold a pencil.  With an emphasis on the entertainment arts, he graduated with Honors and with a BFA in Illustration at Art Center College of Design, he pursued sculpting and immediately developed a passion.  Since then, projects have included fantastic toy maquettes, privately commissioned drawings and sculptures, as well as personal paintings and works.  His public works have made their way to restaurants, hotels, casinos, and luxury resorts all around the world, most notably, bronze gorillas and a piece depicting mice in a game of tug of war displayed at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and also a 6’ tall bronze peacock at the Wynn in Macau.

Recently, Brent has moved his focus away from commissioned works and has been concentrating on and exploring new ideas in the way of sculpted portraits.  His inclusion of developing a more realistic approach to eyes has informed his decisions about his current and future personal works. 

Going into this project, I had several ideas and intentions I hoped to transmute through an engaging group of portraits as a continuation of a new direction in my art.

The first goal was obvious yet not the most important in the traditional sense.  I wanted to depict beauty.  The subject of this piece, Hattie Watson, is an accomplished model, but she is not what the masses would consider mainstream.  I chose her specifically for this element.  I didn’t want to depict the ubiquitous lingerie model that had graced the pages of popular sources like Victoria Secret or the Sports Illustrated Swim Suit issue.  I wanted someone that stood out from what society has deemed the standard of beauty.

I chose Hattie not only for her beauty but also key characteristics of her image that popular culture might deem “unconventional.”  First and foremost, she’s a redhead, rare not only genetically but also in the fashion and print world.  I also chose her specifically for the many tattoos that adorn her body.  As an “alternative” model, Hattie has been able to work in many facets of the industry.  Her accomplishments in this field are respected and worth admiration. I felt it was only necessary to include her tattoos in the piece.  Her tattoos make up the ornaments that decorate her crown much like they decorate her body.  Both personal and fanciful, these tattoos represent a part of her story, a part of who she is as an individual.

This leads into my second goal for the piece.  I not only chose her for her visual uniqueness, but I also chose Hattie because I admired her for her creative abilities.  As a freelance photographer, she demonstrates a keen eye and a remarkable ability to depict her subjects with grace and intrigue.  This piece first and foremost may celebrate beauty that is only skin-deep, but it also celebrates the individuality of the person being well worthy of reverence.

The last goal of this work involves the intentions behind my techniques.  I chose casted resin specifically for its product-like presence.  The final outcome of sanded and uniformly painted resin generates a plastic and manufactured sensibility to the piece.  Although the forms of the face are subtly realistic, the minutia of details like wrinkles and pores are discarded for the sake of an almost perfect seemingly machine-made surface.

I intended to generate a push and pull between hyperrealism and manufactured beauty, between the natural forms of an imperfect human subject and the manufactured filters, fads, and physical augmentations that our society has imposed upon us.  Although the model herself is free from physical augmentation (apart from the tattoos), we as individuals cannot escape the influence of manufactured elements that social media, fame, and technology have contributed to the idea of beauty.

With each successive piece in this series, I intend to continue to celebrate the individual, imperfect and real, by representing more brilliant and equally unique women that inspire.