Polina Berlin Gallery is pleased to present Southern Hospitality, an exhibition of new paintings by American artist Markeidric Walker, on view from November 15 through December 22, 2023. The exhibition will take place in Tribeca and will be open by appointment only. 

Markeidric Walker’s urban scenes center around a Southern staple as subject and muse: the fast-casual restaurant Waffle House. Car culture, fast food, and chain restaurants just off the highway are endemic to the United States, but Walker paints a singular hallmark of a specific region. More than the Waffle House, he captures his community and their chosen hub, transforming the ubiquitous into the mythical.

Walker’s depiction of how light and color hang still in humid Georgia skies sets each painting unmistakably in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. The haze of ambient light has an indelible sense of place and time. Somehow it doen’t seem to matter if the sky was captured at 5am or 5pm—much as no matter when anyone pulls up, the Waffle House will be open. Similarly, Walker vividly captures Magic City, the famed Atlanta nightclub meets strip club; another significant gathering place for the Atlanta music scene.

Walker draws inspiration from a wide range of sources to paint his version of Americana: the quiet solitude of Edward Hopper’s cityscapes; Ed Ruscha’s graphic homages to Los Angeles; Bob Thompson’s vibrant, jazz-influenced compositions. His works transmit a heightened emotional intensity while offering solace in isolation; a space of quiet. The Waffle House and Magic City are undeniably worthy of the zeitgeist, in viral videos, rap lyrics, and celebrity cameos; Walker’s work argues that they are also worthy of the canvas, and that places so central to American life are worthy of a deeper consideration. Walker’s work demands the viewer to consider these spaces as culturally significant places worthy of recognition, of memorializing.

Markeidric Walker (b. 1993, Pine Bluff, Arkansas) lives and works in Atlanta, GA. He holds an BFA in Painting from Savannah College of Arts and Design (2012 - 2015). Walker has worked as a commercial artist and participated in a number of projects in the music and fashion industries. Most notably, Walker created the album covers for Rihanna (2017), Mike Will Made It (2017), Sabrina Claudio (2019), and Michael Kiwanuka (2019).