Hilton Als: Discovering Frank Walter and Finding New Ways to Present Literature and Art

Frank Walter’s rarely seen work is being exhibited at David Zwirner Gallery on the Upper East Side of Manhattan until July 29th. He was an agriculture expert from the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. After a multi-year sojourn in Europe, Walter returned to Antigua where he spent the rest of his life making art. Few saw these works until the 2017 Venice Biennale. There Walter was featured at the first ever pavilion for Antigua and Barbuda. Hilton Als is a writer for the New Yorker. He is also a frequent curator of art exhibitions. Als happened to be in Venice in 2017 and came upon Walter’s work by chance. In this podcast, we talk about Frank Walter and his art. We also discuss Hilton Als’s career as a curator. He was involved in the seminal Black Male show staged at the Whitney in 1994. Since then he has put on shows for Victoria Miro Gallery, David Zwirner and the Yale Center for British Art. Als next show is an exhibition on the life and work of Joan Didion. It will be the latest in a number of innovative shows he has created around literary figures. In these shows, he has found a new way to present ideas in gallery spaces.