Plain Song: Station of the Soul
2-16 December
We are pleased to present an exhibition of significant oil paintings by the late Marlborough artist J.S. Parker, the majority of which have recently been released from the Parker family.
This selection of significant oils are examples of the Marlborough artist’s classic impasto style – thick paint applied by palette knife on canvas to create layers of light and rich colour.
All works in this show demonstrate his mastery of using paint to create, change and generally play with the concept of space. All these works are also Parker’s painterly responses to landscape and music. Plain Song: Canterbury Sky – a memory of a car trip in Christchurch with an intense orange sunset. A rare ‘Sermon’ painting from the 1980s – repeated white squares organised in a grid – but none of them perfect or rigid in their form. The Blue Cross, one of few remaining of several done at the time he was working on a potential commission for the Christchurch Catholic Cathedral for the ‘Stations of the Cross’. A classic Parker Plain Song – Rarangi –featuring the colours of ploughed fields and the grey skies and sands of his favourite walking place.
All with a connecting thread – a curiosity on how to manipulate space and form on a canvas. Fixing and holding – however elusive.
Featured artwork: Plain Song: Canterbury Sky
