Jose Parla and His Works - Essay Example

Jose Parla and His Works Art has been around for millions of years, and through it, we have seen how people express themselves about various issues in society or their feelings about various matters. Art is very divergent. It may be in the form of drawings, painting, pottery, ceramics etc. All these are forms of art since they are constructions that are appealing to the eye and illustrate things and issues that are in society. Painting is one of the most efficient and proficient artistic work which has been around for centuries. Famous works in painting include The Monalisa and The Arnofini Marriage by Leonardo Da Vinci, The Last Judgment by Michelangelo, The Sistine Madonna by Raphael, Number 5 by Jackson Pollock, Impression Sunrise by Monet, American Gothic by Grant Wood, Pearl Earring by Jan Vermeer, Marriage of the Virgin by Raphael, and many more . These proficient painters span from the last century to the contemporary world, implying that proficient art has been around for many centuries, and that contemporary artists look up to last century painters for inspiration. The paper analyses one contemporary artist, Jose Parla, and analyses how he has managed to uphold artistic excellence for many years. Jose Parla is a proficient painter, photograph collector and ceramic artist. Born in 1973, his works have continued to impress ever since he started painting. His works are very proficient to the pointy of being displayed in various art galleries around the globe. Parla creates abstract art that is urban inspired. Parla’s paintings are unique in the sense that they have signature gestures on them. Parla developed this style as he grew in Miami. He used to paint the city walls of Miami; hence, his artistic impressions are reminiscent of his early life at Miami. Apart from this, Parla has been influenced by the noteworthy calligraphy that he leant while he was in the Middle East and Asia during his many travels to these regions. Therefore, Jose Parla’s paintings have been informed by his early childhood and the intensive calligraphy lessons. Furthermore, Jose Parla takes various roles so that he is able to complete his works. Normally, Parla acts as a visual raconteur and a historical transcriber. In taking the role of a transcriber, Parla records his personal experiences in calligraphy form and as palimpsestic code. Parla may also take the form of a storyteller whereby, he presents issues in the form of an enigmatic narrative i.e. his visual works are able to convey messages. Parla is a very flexible artist who keeps altering his medium by looking for newer painting and storytelling techniques. Presently, Parla lives in Brooklyn, New York and he works in ceramics, textiles and invents pigments with his associates (Bryce & Parla 15). Biography Born in South Florida in 1973, Jose Parla, an American of Cuban Descent spent his earlier years in Puerto Rico before moving to Miami when he was aged nine. Ten years after he was born, Parla started painting in subway art. Five years later, in 1988, Parla received a scholarship to study art at the Savanna College of Art and Design that is in Georgia. He then proceeded to study at the New World School of the Arts in Miami. Interestingly, Parla never changed his unorthodox approach towards painting (Bryce & Parla 35). By 1997, Parla had relocated to New York, and this time, he was fondly called by his street artist name, Parla. Upon moving to New York, he started painting with painting aficionado case 2. He exhibited his works using ink heads, and with time, he had mastered the art of professional painting. By 2003, he had started taking part in art exhibitions. Works by Parla Parla began experimenting as early as 1983 when he used canvas in order to translate his wall paintings and personal memories into a permanent mode. At this time, Parla used to illustrate the derelict landscape of urban settings, hence he wanted to transfer this into a medium that was more permanent than the walls that he used. This formed the basis of his contemporary paintings that he describes himself as being ‘’contemporary palimpsests’’ implying that his artistic works are a form of memory documents or segmented realities. Parla has a noteworthy collection of artwork that is presently displayed in various art locations around America and Europe. Parla’s collection has been driven by history and his own inspiration. Parla apart from doing his paintings collects works by other people who are part of his life history or contemporaries and friends whose artworks are in tandem with his art. Parla is dedicated to ensuring that his artworks go an extra level in proficiency and appeal to many. Parla has continued to read art history and he constantly visits various art galleries so that he improves on his artwork (Bryce & Parla 42). Paintings by Parla characterize how cities of the world function as palimpsests. Parla creates visual tales of his experiences in various cities that he has visited. In these paintings, he illustrates urban landscapes of these cities. His works are calligraphic, multilayered and psycho-geographical, and he has incorporates these concepts into his paintings thereby enabling the viewer to find out about his perspective of the environment. Therefore, Parla can be regarded as a modern storyteller who uses writing, gestures and calligraphy to illustrate complex stories and landscapes. Each painting by Parla has the name of the location and Parla’s experience that prompted him to use the source. Parla asserts that, what attracted him to painting the environment was because not many artists were painting the environment. Therefore, he decided to do paintings that illustrated decay and dilapidation in society (Bryce & Parla 48). Famous paintings by Parla include Mero (2002), 184th St(2009), Painting- letters of evolution, San Giorgio Albisola (2008), Eastern Bamboo Forest (2008), Grey Area (2008), Layered Days (2008), Salud a Rey (2007), Marked by Inkstains (2009) etc. These paintings portray different issues and are of different places; however, there is a notable similarity in all paintings done by Parla to date. All paintings by Parla are similar in the sense that there is calligraphy that has been superimposed onto the painting, and the format of the calligraphy is almost entirely similar in all the paintings. A closer view at the paintings also reveals that the atrtist is trying to convey a message about a landscape, a thing or an issue. Parla also uses various colors in his works, which gives his paintings an element of aesthetic beauty. Parla has incorporated photography into his works, in that, there are very many photographs as part pof his artistic collection. Parla visits many places around the place and while he is there, he takes very many proficient paintings, although, he has very many photographs in his collection that he got from his friends. For example, in his Brooklyn studio, he has very many photos of Bolivian photographer, Stefan Luiz. Parla admits that Ruiz is his most favorite contemporary photographer. Ruiz has photographed for the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph all around the world; hence, he has many collections that inspire Parla. One photo that stands out in his collection is a photo that Ruiz shot at salt fields of Bolivia. Presently, Parla has picked many photographs from photographers in the Helsinki School in Finland. Apart from these, Parla has collected various photographs from close friends and associates like Chris Mendoza, David Ellis, Ryan McGinness, Sue Kwon, Aurel Schmidt, Rostar and Scott Campbell. Therefore, parla has taken his artwork to the next level by intermarrying photography and painting, and in so doing he has managed to enhance his artistic prowess (Byrce & Parla 57). Apart from photography, Parla has a collection of artistic impressions and paintings that he has acquired from artists around the world. These works have also enabled him to gather more inspiration while doing his painting. For example, in his studio at Brooklyn, Parla has a sculpture by an artist who goes by the name Valerie Hegarty. This is a papier-mâché sculpture that is very magnificent, and Parla admits that when he gets a proficient piece of artwork, he takes it and stores it in his computer, so that he is able to gather inspiration from it. From this painting, Parla has been able to add his own paintings, and the finished product is a very proficient piece of art work. Apart from painting and collecting and assembling of photographs, Parla has been doing ceramic pieces for the past ten years or so. His love for ceramics started when he was in Japan years back. He was taught by his friend in Japan, Hajime Kimura, a specialist in Bizen ceramics. Parla asserts that Kimura hails from a family that has been making ceramics for thousands of years. Therefore, from this brief experience with a ceramic artist, Parla was able to develop a keen interest in this type of art. Since then, he became a proficient ceramic artist. His ceramic pieces include artifacts similar to those that existed in ancient Mesopotamia. He also has tablets that contain names of crews of painting that he worked with in the 80’s and 90’s. Through these tablets, he hopes that the names of these artists will be remembered for many years to come (Bryce & Parla 56). Therefore, Parla has earned worldwide fame due to his unique painting style of incorporating calligraphy into his works, and bringing his own experiences into his works. His collections comprise of urban landscapes of areas that he has visited and as a result of this, his paintings are a form of narrative, explaining his past experiences with places and people. He, therefore, describes his painting works as being ‘’Contemporary palimpsests’’. Apart from painting, he collects photographs of places from friends, associates and fellow artists. Parla has also been into ceramic art for ten years, an art that he leant in his brief sojourn in Japan. All these collections are found in his studio in Brooklyn, New York and in various art galleries and display centers around the globe. Works Cited Bryce Wolkowitz, José Parlá, Isolde Brielmaier, Michael Betancourt, Greg Tate. Jose Parla: Walls, Diaries and Paintings. New York: Hatje Cantz Verlag GmbH & Co KG, 2010. Print Read More