- 31
José Parlá
bidding is closed
Description
- José Parlá
- Pirate Utopias
- Signed, titled, dated 2007 and variously inscribed on the reverse
- Oil, acrylic, spray paint, oil pen and collage on wooden panel
- 122 by 122 cm, 48 by 48 in.
- Executed in 2007.
Provenance
Elms Lesters, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Catalogue Note
José Parlá, born in 1973, is a Brooklyn-based street and public artist. Parlá creates murals, paintings, and works on paper, but also produces installations, video, sculpture, and photographic works that document urban landscapes and city life.
His works lie at the boundary between abstraction and calligraphy. Parlá’s large-scale compositions resemble city walls covered in layers of graffiti and adverts. He uses brushes, markers, spray paint, and sometimes fragments of fliers and posters. The multi-layered form of his works evokes layers of hidden stories and narratives. As the artist once explained himself, ‘I’m really interested in the way our lives are built up out of memory and history, and how we reflect that in our surroundings.’
Parlá received several public commissions, including a production of a giant mural at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn and, more recently, a monumental mural painting for the One World Trade Center, the largest painting of this kind in New York City. He often collaborates with other artists, including JR with whom he worked on a big street art project Wrinkles of the City: Havana in Cuba. Parlá’s works have been exhibited internationally and can be found in many prestigious permanent collections, including the British Museum, London and the Burger Collection in Hong Kong.
His works lie at the boundary between abstraction and calligraphy. Parlá’s large-scale compositions resemble city walls covered in layers of graffiti and adverts. He uses brushes, markers, spray paint, and sometimes fragments of fliers and posters. The multi-layered form of his works evokes layers of hidden stories and narratives. As the artist once explained himself, ‘I’m really interested in the way our lives are built up out of memory and history, and how we reflect that in our surroundings.’
Parlá received several public commissions, including a production of a giant mural at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn and, more recently, a monumental mural painting for the One World Trade Center, the largest painting of this kind in New York City. He often collaborates with other artists, including JR with whom he worked on a big street art project Wrinkles of the City: Havana in Cuba. Parlá’s works have been exhibited internationally and can be found in many prestigious permanent collections, including the British Museum, London and the Burger Collection in Hong Kong.