
1997
While traveling in Italy, WalkingStick created Venere Alpina, Alpine Venus, a work that meditates between aging and permanence. Inspired by Italian Alps, WalkingStick painted mountains in hues found in the American Rockies, evoking memory, permanency, monumentality, and geologic time. Warm browns, luscious greens, and soft pinks create a mountain scape that mimics the folds and nuances of the female body. On the right panel, a surface of textured rust-colored steel panel suggests the passage of time and deterioration. In the center of this panel, WalkingStick created an intentional central slit to allow the viewer to see inside the where gems allude to the treasure that lie beneath the earth’s weathered and aged surface.