?They are all related like a family in a sense,? Jos? Parl? says of his paintings and sculpture on view in INSTINCTS opening this evening at The Goss-Michael Foundation. On view through November 11, Parl??s solo show will christen the recently relocated smaller and more focused G-MF space on Wycliff Avenue.
Described as a ?highly ebullient painter,? Jos? Parl? is a Cuban-American Brooklyn-based artist known for his abstract large-scale work including ONE: Union of the Senses a 90-foot mural installed in One World Trade Center. Primal in every sense, the artist delights in technique involving layers of transparency and erasure ?without getting rid of all the history.? A ?writer? (think graffitist) on the streets of Miami in his youth, Parl??s exhibition explores the slowing down of time just as it amplifies the territories of his personal consciousness.
?When I?m approaching color?especially in this show?it?s all about instinct. I?m looking at the entire show together and telling a story from one piece to the next and trying to find the individuality and commonality all at once,? explains Parl? of the disparate yet unified pieces in the exhibition curated by G-MF Director Michael Mazurek.
The artist is thoughtful in his process, which includes his signature calligraphic-like writings. Utilizing a kind of Fresco-technique he says, ?Everything?s very wet when I?m working on it. When I start again, after taking a break, I rewet everything again?pulling, peeling and adding paint continuously.? While some paintings like Union are imbued by heavy texture, others are informed by subtle gestural marks treated delicately as in Place. ?It?s focused on the idea of someone else who has written something in the past.?
As with much of his work, Union takes on a sculptural element. The artist describes, ?I?m working on segments over and over again. I sand everything very carefully. I take care of the piece very softly then I attack it. I want to make sure every pour has its significance, so you see everything glitter weaving in and out of the painting. In a part that?s been sanded down, I?ll stain it back and add color to it.? Subtle writing lives below most works. Its appearance is fleeting and becomes fettered by nuanced layers. ?It?s a kind of gestural mark then it?s covered by all this texture then it reappears like bones picking through the skin.?
Especially arresting in the show, rock-like relics made of dried paint enhance the artist?s Modern Ancient sculpture. Hammering and crushing pigment from dried paint buckets the artist makes these relics ?ultra-present? by adding gesso, acrylic and bright oil as a finishing coat. Modern Ancient engages with a painting titled History on the back wall of the gallery. The painting includes a square mono-transfer that acts as a window to memory depicting dynamic energy changes. ?This is a window into the history of our mind. Memories become abstract in the way you try to remember things?especially going back ten to twenty years and even into your childhood. Sometimes we imagine a memory that never really happened.?
A firm foot on the future of The Goss-Michael Foundation, Michael Mazurek concludes, “Parl?’s?exhibition exemplifies our belief in focusing on the artists. The new space is designed specifically for this purpose, to highlight individual artists and encourage an intimate engagement with their work.”
INSTINCTS opens this evening from 5:00?7:00 p.m. at The Goss-Michael Foundation located at 1305 Wycliff Avenue, Suite 120. Read more about Jos? Parl? in A Visceral Voice in the 5th Anniversary Issue of Patron.