The increasing interest in the work of artists who navigate the under belly of implied high art has lead to the discovery of a new, or rather old, breed of artist. Many are primarily painters although some, like Walter French, are becoming known as the ‘silver haired conceptualists’ (a termed coined first by the critic William Spent in his recent essay “Time passes slowly”.) French began making art at the tender age of 68, setting up a studio in his garden shed before kitting out his garage when increasing problems with age prevented him from driving.

Now 7 years on, French has exhibited widely throughout the UK with the support of Richard Higlett a contemporary artist, who acts as a curator/promoter. Their relationship is one of mutual respect, “The Tomato growers apprentice” (2000) a photographic collaboration allows the viewer to be led into the belief that information is being past down but equally information and knowledge is passing the other way. French’s success as an artist has come from the way his work has found a resonance with the Higher and Middle art buying markets. The work is humorous, surreal and conceptual while at the same time being fundamentally accessible on many levels. A man for all seasons, it displays elements of art brut Style while always appearing sensitive and informed. There is a suburban homely feel to the work involving an empathetic view of surrealism much in the manner or style of Rene Magrette. In French’s Cartland series (2003), romantic paintings on paperback covers of boulders stagnant and waiting for love are painfully funny in the same way romance in trashy novels tends to be.

Critics have sited his D.I.Y. style as a form of English Outsider art. His quest of wanting to erase urban forms by painting on them has an unconventional rigor associated with Outsider art. However there is clarity in the concepts within his work that suggest awareness of an applied form of urban Folk Art.