Erik Parker
16 Feb - 08 Mar 2008
ERIK PARKER
"Between Lines"
Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings by Erik Parker entitled "Between Lines," in the project space.
For this group of drawings, Parker continues to mine the depths of underground comics and graffiti, satirizing pop culture references and creating a visual illustration of music. Here however Parker employs registers of figures, not unlike ancient hieroglyphics, to structure each work. Works like Bonafide team with psychedelic Central American pictograms. Elsewhere, figures in various states of debauchery or distress move through the registers: R2-D2, fire hydrants, one-eyed smokers and martini glasses all call for attention. Rhythmic bands of color frame the works and pulsate with the nervous energy of the characters.
In past paintings, drawings, words scrawled throughout the works alluded to recent news stories, favorite bands, or liner notes. Whereas previously words or phrases were incorporated to create the structure of a narrative, here text is used for titles that now simply point to the theme. Stem Sell, Laced, or Hidden Hierarchy could each refer to a political event or a global crisis, depending on how the viewer interprets the meaning. Coupled with the figures, "Between Lines" leaves it all up to the audience to read.
Erik Parker lives and works in New York. He has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Asia, most recently at the De Appel Center for Contemporary Art, Amsterdam (solo); IVAM, Valencia; Honor Fraser, Los Angeles; The Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina and The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu.
"Between Lines"
Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings by Erik Parker entitled "Between Lines," in the project space.
For this group of drawings, Parker continues to mine the depths of underground comics and graffiti, satirizing pop culture references and creating a visual illustration of music. Here however Parker employs registers of figures, not unlike ancient hieroglyphics, to structure each work. Works like Bonafide team with psychedelic Central American pictograms. Elsewhere, figures in various states of debauchery or distress move through the registers: R2-D2, fire hydrants, one-eyed smokers and martini glasses all call for attention. Rhythmic bands of color frame the works and pulsate with the nervous energy of the characters.
In past paintings, drawings, words scrawled throughout the works alluded to recent news stories, favorite bands, or liner notes. Whereas previously words or phrases were incorporated to create the structure of a narrative, here text is used for titles that now simply point to the theme. Stem Sell, Laced, or Hidden Hierarchy could each refer to a political event or a global crisis, depending on how the viewer interprets the meaning. Coupled with the figures, "Between Lines" leaves it all up to the audience to read.
Erik Parker lives and works in New York. He has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Asia, most recently at the De Appel Center for Contemporary Art, Amsterdam (solo); IVAM, Valencia; Honor Fraser, Los Angeles; The Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina and The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu.