Tennessee Summer, Walter Forever

August 2 – 23 | Opening Reception August 2, 1pm–9pm

COOP is pleased to present Tennessee Summer, Walter Forever debut solo exhibition by Chattanooga-based artist Will Sutton. In this playful installation, Sutton utilizes discarded materials to construct a map of memory, thrill, and grief in the unique scene of Tennessee skateboarding culture. Having been a skateboarder since his early teens, Sutton aims to use humorous overloads of drawn subcultural imagery and pitiful objects to show complications in his feeling towards the subculture as an adult. The second segment of the title, “Walter Forever,” is in reference to a recurring tag on the Chattanooga skatepark which honors a talented young skateboarder friend of Sutton, whose own passing pushed Sutton into pursuing skateboarding as a serious site of artistic consideration.

On Saturday, August 23rd at 11 am, Sutton will lead a small panel of Tennessee skateboarders in sharing their experiences. After the event, the public is invited to a skate session at the Two Rivers Skatepark in Nashville.

More about the Artist

Will Sutton is an artist and curator based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Will grew up immersed in the subcultures of skateboarding and hardcore music. Through these interests, Will found his passion for artmaking. After graduating college in 2022 with a BFA in Painting in Drawing from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Will’s creative research has led him to utilizing artmaking to explore the subcultures that originally pulled him into artmaking. He has been involved in artist-run spaces in Chattanooga, and is the Co-Director of a residency and curatorial program called Union Arts. He has attended residency at Stove Works and has shown at Tangerine Gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Art at Chattanooga.