JOSÉ PARLÁ: BROKEN LANGUAGE
OPENING FEBRUARY 7th, 6-8PM up through March 28th, 2013
Haunch of Venison presents its first solo exhibition of New York-based artist José Parlá. Born in Miami of Cuban parents, artist José Parlá’s vibrant works explore the multilayered histories of cities and urban environments; his paintings and site-specific installations are created both in his large carriage house studio and outside throughout city surfaces. His expressive painting style and layers of ephemera and found objects combined with calligraphic abstraction have a unique lyrical feel to them. This exhibition presents new paintings, works on paper, photographs and sculptures throughout our three gallery spaces.
Parla’s work acts as a record of his journeys through streets that he navigates, using a map of one city to direct you through another. He documents his city walks through photographs as well as at times collecting detritus from the streets, once back in the studio they are used to build the composition of each painting.
Language and writing are key themes within Parlá’s work. He often incorporates layers of text from street posters he collects while traveling. His own stylized calligraphy is worked into and on the surface of each painting, and although it is always partially obscured and indecipherable, it is a personal narrative of his experiences and a record of stories he discovers on his various journeys.
Parla’s paintings are made in reaction to the urban environment; they are impressions of what we are surrounded by, a response to the energy that courses through every city. Parla brings beauty to ruggedness and decay, and a language of his very own to what he sees and feels around him.
José Parlá summarizes the work in the exhibition Broken Language:
For most of my life I have experienced being in transition and migration. This feeling allows me to bring the broken languages of the global community and its conditions into the gallery. My work is an empire of fragmented cacophonies, observed performances, palimpsestic musical gestures, and topographical compositions governing the essence of the cities I’ve traveled through.
José Parlá has exhibited internationally, including major shows in London, New York, Paris and Havana. In 2012 he exhibited at the 11th Havana Biennial, Cuba, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. José along with friend and collaborator, artist JR, have been selected for an upcoming screening of their project: Wrinkles of the City, Havana, Cuba at The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in London. José's work was also recently added to the collection of the British Museum and he participated in a panel discussion entitled: Writers and Writers: Narrative on the Page and in the Street at MoMA.
The opening of 'José Parlá: Broken Language' - Thursday 7 February, 6-8pm
Haunch of Venison
103 New Bond Street
London, U.K
Map and contact details
http://www.joseparla.com
