PLAIN SONG: works on paper
3-16 September
As Damian Skinner wrote in ‘J.S. Parker: Plain Song’ (2009), “Parker’s art is one of accretion, of steadily accumulating gestures that together create the effects his practice seeks to achieve. The power of Parker’s painting is cumulative, a series of small gestures that gather speed.”
An intellectual and deeply meaningful appreciation of composition was important to my father. In music and poetry certainly, and also in his artwork - no matter the medium. Many viewers and owners of his work have strong emotional responses to his harmonious (or purposely disharmonious) collation of lines, colours, textures, structures and forms in his oil paintings. But as this show proves, his mastery of composition is also evident in these, more delicate, works on paper.
JS (John Shotton) Parker studied at Ilam School of Fine Arts, Christchurch and graduated with Honours in Painting in 1967.
Highly regarded by collectors nationally and internationally, JS Parker is best known for his large impasto paintings within a grid format, full of texture, rhythm and balance within his imposed framework, exploring juxtapositions of colour. He worked in thick layers of paint applied with a palette knife, sweeps of paint which he would pare back to reveal hints of what lies beneath.
Featured artwork: Plain Song: A Canterbury Pilgrims Road Song
