Pace Prints is pleased to present Upswing Dub Project, an exhibition of new monoprints by Erik Parker, created in the Pace Editions studios in New York. This is Parker’s inaugural exhibition with Pace Prints. Upswing Dub Project will be on view March 8-April 13, 2013, and an opening reception will be held Thursday March 7, 6-8pm.
Erik Parker’s new series of unique prints are florid and densely packed with hand colored deviants; collaged rarities and other miscreations of Parker’s own invention. Spurring from the format of Egyptian friezes, the visual anarchy of these prints lives harmoniously within a highly organized architectural structure. Further within these works, Parker seems to riff on the traditional compositional style of portraiture and landscape paintings. Alongside his singularly unique gonzo iconography, Parker resurrects the flat trajectory of traditional still lives through his lens of black light posters in combination with his visually extremist treatment.
Traditionally known for his paintings, Parker has applied his signature painting style and neon palate to his printmaking technique. He has created unique works using a wide range of printmaking techniques combinatively; such as screen printing, relief printing, and intaglio with additional hand coloring and collaged elements. He uses his unique architecture of information and color palate, pushing each piece to its optical extreme.
Erik Parker’s oeuvre feeds on the fringes of incendiary subculture and disregarded history to create a uniquely zealous body of work. His references span from the deep and dark corners of the carefully mannered art world to the more esoteric branches of culture such as inglorious comic books, unsung hip hop heroes, and freakish, hallucinatory imagery from the drug-fueled political past. Parker’s amalgamation of all these elements creates something visually guerillistic; an optical colloquialism through his use of vibrant color and seemingly endless dimension-bending shapes.
Parker was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1968 and received his Bachelor in Fine Arts in 1996 from University of Texas in Austin, TX and his Master in Fine Arts form SUNY Purchase in Purchase, NY. He has been featured in solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Milan, Tokyo, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Parker’s works have been included in many public collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Yale University Art Gallery, RISD Museum of Art, and the Hammer Museum. Parker currently lives and works in New York City.