Corban Walker (b. 1967, Dublin, Ireland) is an artist known for his investigations of perceptions of scale and architectural constructs. At the height of four-feet tall, the artist’s personal relationship between self and the built environment is fundamental to the way he defines and develops his work. Embracing concepts of both architecture and minimalism, Walker uses specific local and cultural philosophies to encourage viewers to re-examine the way they conceptualise, navigate, and interact with their surroundings. The artist’s work is marked by carefully considered shifts in proportion and balance and is also distinguished by a diverse use of industrial materials traditionally associated with the built environment, including L.E.D., glass, stainless steel, aluminium and vinyl.
Since graduating from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, with a degree in Sculpture in 1992, Walker has worked across a broad range of media, ranging from painting, drawing, photography, digital art, and sculpture to large-scale and site-specific installations. The artist has mounted numerous solo exhibitions worldwide, and has also realized seven permanent public commissions for important institutions such as the Bank of Scotland Headquarters, Dublin and Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd., Tokyo. In 1996, the artist represented Ireland in L’Imaginaire Irlandais Festival, in Poitiers, France. His work is part of numerous public and private collections around the world, including the Irish Museum of Art, Dublin. In 2008, Walker was a Visiting Artist at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. The artist is represented by The Pace Gallery and has lived and worked in New York since 2004.
Recent projects include Mapping the Hugh Lane, 2009-2010, part of The Golden Bough Series of Contemporary installations at Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, Dublin, curated by Michael Dempsey; and Off the Glass, created for the exhibition Size Does Matter at the FLAG Art Foundation, New York in 2010 (curated by American basketball player Shaquille O’Neal), which explored the challenges of scale that the artist—and the curator—confront in the built environment.