As an emerging contemporary painter, Dyllan Walker expresses a range of masculinity that is pushed away in Mexican culture. A side that can be vibrant and expressive instead of cold and secluded from the world around. Walker has taken inspiration from Lucha Libre; on the surface it appears as a spectacle of macho men with intense larger than life personas. However, under their flashy, glittering costumes is boisterous confidence of one’s self without care of judgement.
To capture the extravagant moves of a wrestler is a side focus of Walker’s work as he explores his heritage, childhood interest, and shows a type of confident masculinity that's empathetic to those around them. These wrestlers go at each other with extravagant moves and confidence while wearing little to nothing; the vulnerability all on display never stops the wrestler. Walker’s work doesn’t stop with figures, but goes onto the frames he builds. Not just abstract shapes, but also intentionally abstracted versions of objects that are familiar to Walker’s culture such as skulls, tequila-bottles, and desert plants.
Confined to a limited palette forces an artist to branch out of their comfort zone and adapt new ways of capturing their vision. Usually working with a limited palette of red, yellow, blue, and very little use of titanium white. Something that Walker enjoys deeply in his work are unconventional colors such as neon green and bright pink which he pulls from a limited palette. Vibrant colors all made from an exclusive, muddy palette.
DYLLAN WALKER is a contemporary oil painter and muralist based in Austin, TX. He has experience creating large-scale murals, installations, and private room commissions.