José Parlá

Early on, the notion of wall painting was intuitive to José Parlá. The graffiti vernacular of repetition and tags has been transmuted into the vast canvases that bring his ideas and memories of the outside, inside. His conversion is not new, following in the steps of artists like Basquiat – formally SAMO – but also reminiscent of historical themes of abstraction and expressionism, best exemplified by the likes of Cy Twombly. It’s a fascinating combination, the paintings themselves providing more than enough layers – compositionally and contextually – to read into.