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J. Michael Walker is both the author and illustrator of All the Saints of the City of the Angels: Seeking the Soul of L.A. on Its Streets (2008). A kind of William Blake for the West, Walker has created impressionistic prose and poetry for the book to accompany his visionary paintings of every saint who lends his name to at least one street in the city.
In an openhearted introductory essay, Walker tells of finding his vocation in the pages of “The Thomas Guide to Los Angeles County Streets, a compendium of some two hundred street maps that lies tattered and cherished, like a much-abused teddy bear, on the rear floorboard of many an L.A. car”. It’s an ingratiating line, combining the characteristic innocence, empathy, and charm that give this book and its author their signature magic.
Originally from Arkansas, J. Michael came to Los Angeles by way of Mexico – a critical stopover that “explained” L.A. to him: its historical, thriving roots churning beneath the asphalt. Since 1984, Walker has participated in more than 100 exhibitions; received a dozen grants, fellowships, and artist residencies; and enjoyed solo shows in both the U.S. and Mexico. All the Saints of the City of the Angels, which recently won both, the U.S. Review of Books' Art Book of the Year award and the Independent Publishers Association award for best general non-fiction of the Pacific West, is his first book.
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