riece walton

Riece Walton was born in 1969, and has created art almost from the beginning of his life. As a child, he worked with the tools available to him: an ice bucket of crayon pieces, Big Chief pads, Lego building blocks. As he matured in south Louisiana in the '70s and '80s, he was drawn to vibrant palettes and expressive techniques. Always building toward a career in art, he was encouraged in this goal by his elementary school art teacher, Lloyd Sensat. Their mentoring relationship ultimately evolved into a lifelong friendship. 

 

While majoring in Studio Art at Pensacola Junior College, Riece decided to devote himself fully to art. Since that time, he has been selected to exhibit in the Artel Cinco Banderas jury show, and more recently had a design selected for the Pensacola News Journal’s public exhibit, "Pelicans in Paradise." He has sold countless paintings in his distinctive southern style, and completed numerous commissioned works, both paintings and murals. 

 

Riece’s paintings are informed by the old masters, Rembrandt and Caravaggio, and by popular modern artists, Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, and James Michalopoulos. These influences can be felt in his kinetic canvases, choice of subjects, and deliberate use of color. His work can transport an art lover back to childhood, on the first day of summer, and awaken those feelings of freedom and endless possibility that we can all remember so well. 

 

His subject matter centers around food, drink, and southern culture. Sugar cane fields, food still lifes, timeworn buildings, and Mardi Gras parades give freedom to create using figure, color, or line. Riece hopes to put the viewer in the middle of the scene to experience it firsthand, to hear the rustle of the cane, smell the briny oyster liquor, and feel the heat from the flambeaux on a chilly winter night as a parade passes by. 

 

Riece's wish for himself is to grow into his art. His wish for us is that we share his joie de vivre, and learn to appreciate the beauty in our everyday lives.