About Walter
Having first moved to New York in 1982 to pursue a career in the visual arts, and having completed a year of graduate work at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Salas-Humara found steady work with the Leo Castelli Gallery during the ‘80s Manhattan art boom. Citing as his heroes ‘50s minimalist painter Ellsworth Kelly and Pop artist Jasper Johns, Salas-Humara’s early paintings were post modernist combinations of large abstract color fields and expressionist imagery. His art career was cut short with the success of his rock band The Silos three years later.
In the early 2000s, Salas-Humara took up painting again after a hiatus of two decades. On a whim, he created several stylized, cave art-like dog paintings as holiday gifts for his nieces and nephews. They became so popular that he was soon spending much of his free time painting commissioned dog portraits in his signature style for friends and fans. In 2005, he formed a company called WaltersDogs and began producing originals and prints for sale at his music concerts, by mail-order and in music-oriented art galleries like Yard Dog in Austin, eventually expanding his product line to include apparel, accessories, bedding and stationery products. His dog paintings can be seen on the walls of Elisabeth Moss’s apartment in the 2010 Universal Pictures comedy Get Him to the Greek.
In 2018 Walter began to make complex symbolic images of Horses which have been shown in Galleries and Art Centers throughout the USA and Europe. He continues to make the Horse paintings and has added added abstract landscapes, psychedelic pure abstraction and totemic paintings of what he calls Spirit Elk to his repertoire.
Walter continues to produce new paintings and music and performs all around the world at both art events and music venues. He also spends time creating special commissions for serious collectors.
