Stephen Truax reviews the recent exhibition John Walker: Looking Out to Sea at Alexandre Gallery, New York.

Truax writes: "Twelve large-format canvases—all of which feature interlocking zig-zag patterns (a shorthand for the crests of water on the surface of the sea?)—were made exclusively inside his studio, a departure for Walker, who regularly begins his works outside and only finishes inside. By employing this familiar composition as a platform for his investigations, Walker is free to build a series of pictures that foreground his concerns about painting in general… Painting exclusively in the studio, it seems, has given Walker a different kind of freedom; his drawings and collages freely exchange ideas, while working from memory has relieved his attachment to his subject."