VISITES — FÉVRIER 2009José Parlà — New York
Cheong Kwon, le 12 décembre 2008José Parlà is a painter who was born in Miami into a family of Cuban exiles.
Parlà’s paintings originate from « performances of the street » in which the experience of the wall as a palimpsest of urban folklore is central. Wall deterioration, graffiti, calligraphy, billboards, and press clippings are recordings that are the ground of his symphonic canvases.
Parlà’s work is both particular and generally reflective of the wanderings of today's urban populations and attempts to extract and synthesize fragments of urban environments in flux and reproduce them using materials and methods of architectural construction: cement, wood, vinyl, as well as those of traditional art like paper, paint, marker, wax, and ink.
When, as a young art student, he first began integrating text and writing into his paintings, he was told by professors that it was graffiti, not art. He nonetheless continued his exploration, whereupon he stumbled upon a Robert Rauchenberg photograph of Cy Twombly. Finding the poetic work of Twombly opened a door for Parlà, not only to own the integration of writing in painting, but to know that what he did was fine art, and should not be catagorized as urban or street art.
For his first solo show in New York, « Layered Days », currently on view in Soho at Christina Grajales, Inc., Parlà shows a series that are a culmination of canvases inspired by a Columbian trip. In these works, the colors are influenced by the layers found in the Amazonian jungle and the reverberations of Yajé ritual rather than the urban jungle. An almost dervish quality of line and irrepressible kinetic motion creates meditative silence in the paintings. Not unlike Jackson Pollack, José Parla uses writing in paintings within a motion of dance.
One of the most extraordinary pieces in the show was a wall installation with photographs, paintings, objects d’art and family keepsakes. Parlà explained that the installation was a narrative homage to the people and experinces from his extensive travels. It is also influnced by the traditional Yorubian, Catholic, and Cuban alters with which he grew up.
When asked about the style of his line and signature compositions, Parlà suggests the fluidity of his handwriting originates from « Philly » style and the « Broadway Elegant », two types of 1980’s street writing birthed when « poor kids were looking for a way of recognizing themselves » and Keith Haring and Basquiat were just beginning to find gallery representation. This is when people like Blade, Futura 2000, and Lee Quinones, were self advertising with competitive street murals to establish their fame.
« The Philly and Broadway elegant styles are created by writing from right to left, starting from the bottom and moving up, as in traditional Asian texts, » says Parlà, to explain the general composition of his paintings and porcelain works. Parlà pushes these styles in his work to the point where control and meaning are transcended and another realm of perception becomes apparent. The paintings speak not only about neglect, but the wisdom of treasuring the transitory surface.
José Parlá currently lives and works in New York.
www.joseparla.com
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