Kelley Walker is a digital media artist, sculptor, and installation artist. He is well-known for bringing to light important issues of consumerism and politics; he is also fond of utilizing iconic cultural images and advertising media. One of his most popular pieces, black star press (2005), walker repeatedly prints an image of a white policeman and police dog attacking a black male protester, then smears chocolate over the images in a symbolic “painted” gesture, recalling the serial race riot works of andy warhol. Walker has also used found images of michael jackson, and, more recently, whitney houston, considering the interaction of race, fame, and tragedy. Walker was influenced early on by jasper johns and often collaborates with fellow artist wade guyton, using stenciling, digital scanning, photo-silk screening, and inkjet printing in order to craft a multitude of images for alteration.

Walker received his bfa from university of tennessee, knoxville. Some of the major galleries and museums where walker’s art is featured include the whitney museum of art in new york, the thomas dane gallery in london, the baltimore museum of art in baltimore, the museum of american art in new york, and the gallery air de paris in france. Walker currently lives and works in new york.