A note from our friend José Parlá:

This past summer I worked on two large murals I entitled: The Concord Project, for the city of Toronto. I made the works here in Brooklyn and installed them up in Canada after almost a year of work.

My friend, Sarah Keenlyside, made a short video of the project. It gives me great pleasure to share it with you. I hope you enjoy it !!!

With love,
José Parlá

www.inkblotmedia.ca
www.joseparla.com

(Some images of the murals after the jump.)

Opening on September 9, OHWOW will present a solo exhibition of new work by José Parlá. "Character Gestures" will exhibit a series of paintings, mono-transfers and installations and build on the artist's earlier work that dealt with the concept of psychogeography and depicted distressed architectural surfaces layered with calligraphic text. While Parlá continues to broach the idea of how we experience urban landscapes and the visual language of mark making, the shift within Character Gestures stems from a deeper engagement with process and abstraction.

On January 20, 2011, a gala party was held in downtown Toronto for José Parlá to celebrate the reveal of two massive public art murals he painted as a commission for Concord CityPlace. The Ministry of Artistic Affairs caught up with the artist while he was in town and offers the following exclusive interview.

José Parlá (born in 1973 in Miami, raised in Cuba) is an artist who assumes different roles in order to create his work: he acts as a historical transcriber and a visual raconteur. As a transcriber, he records his experiences in calligraphic and palimpsestic code. Serving as a collection of textually chronicled memories, the markings appear on backdrops that resemble the distressed surfaces he encounters — the cosmetic results of passed time — city walls marred by layers of paint, old posters, and years of neglect.

Parlá’s paintings are inspired by the environments of cities he has traveled to, which include Havana, London, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York City, where he is now based. His mixed media works sometimes employ fresco techniques and include acrylic, oil paints, plaster, posters used as collage, homemade inks, and enamel spray paint.

Published by Hatje Cantz Verlang, this new monograph offers a full look at the artists calligraphic work, inspired by anonymous street art and damaged surfaces.

Taking a break from preparations for a his upcoming show at Bryce Walkowitz Gallery in New York, opening March 3, 2011, Parlá will be making a quick trip to Toronto in mid-January to attend the launch reception for two epic murals commissioned by residential developer Concord CityPlace, recently installed in two new towers near the city's waterfront.

By Randy Gladman for The Ministry of Artistic Affairs.