SANTIAGO PARRA RISING ACTION
MALAT JD GALLERY ‘Rising Action’ by Santiago Parra A Solo Exhibition at JD Malat Gallery
‘The actual painting of each piece is something very diferent from what is commonly conceived as painting, no art academy can prepare you for what it may actually need in order to create art: as I need the unconscious to move the brush, I must find a way to let go and lose the control of consciousness, and this is very dificult and not always achievable.’ -Santiago Parra.
A new exhibition at JD Malat Gallery, on Davies Street in Mayfair, welcomes its space to ‘Rising Action’, focusing on the work of celebrated Colombian artist, Santiago Parra. ‘Rising Action’ marks the first solo exhibition of Santiago Parra in London, and casts an enlightened and thought-provoking eye on the technique and approach of an artist focusing on the rubric of the subconscious.
Born in 1986 in Bogotá, Colombia, Santiago Parra’s canonical work is a declaration of the psychological, beautifully captured in this exercise of visceral transcendence. Parra’s work is the search for the purest form of representation, an intimate look into the mind of an artist, attempting to capture the aesthetics of the subconscious, free from the bounds of the compos mentis.
Taking its name from the literary term; ‘Rising Action’ invites us to think deeply about the processes of dramatic tension, and how the emotion of particular events can be portrayed
4 on the canvas. Each painting becomes an individual incident, capturing this process of Certainly for Parra, ‘painting is a language. Each element within is discursive and psychological freedom and questioning. The efect, therefore, creates a sequence of dramatic enunciative. In my case the brushstroke is the enunciative element, it embodies the concepts events, culminating in a timeline of instances, which is efectively translated into a series of of freedom, strength, force, delicacy, balance, harmony, rage, beauty…’ The elements of internal conflicts, collectively forming a ‘Rising Action’. which, culminate to form this deep, contemplative enquiry into the abstract.
The notion of translating Parra’s literary background into a calligraphic stream of It seems, therefore, that Parra’s exploration into a pure freedom of movement, is as consciousness creates a timeless beauty, strengthening the simplicity of Parra’s approach. As much the motif of abstract expressionism as it is his own, taking on a purely organic form. Yet, such, this process seems to free his work from the barriers of restraint, translating the canvas unlike the abstract expressionists of the mid-twentieth century, with whom Parra certainly into a manifesto of self-liberation, which gives itself over to the futility of the vernacular. As shares an afinity, Parra deliberately distances himself from this association, explaining that such, according to Parra; ‘my painting is close to writing, and is closer to automatic writing. his ‘paintings are done in a single moment and in a single brushstroke; I never retouch a One may say that I accomplished the ideal of automatic painting. When I studied surrealism painting, I do not plan in advance nor make previous sketches, my painting is truly automatic.’ in writing, the ideal was to truly write without any filters or limitations, and they did it For the viewer, this series of works which has formed under the banner of ‘Rising Action’ is an successfully, but in painting they didn’t, their paintings were illustrations or representations acute demonstration of this rejection of formality. Categorising the individual is something of dreams but they weren’t at all automatic paintings. The abstract expressionists in the 1950’s which Parra seems to strongly oppose, and although serving as sources for his work, his tried to revive the ideal with more success but there’s still a lot of control, of representation. I influences have become the barometer from which to rebel. In so doing, this culmination of think I was able for the first time to make true automatic paintings.’ the monochromatic has been a successful navigation. In particular, the abstract expressionists and surrealists have inspired Parra to ‘search for the unconscious as a source for art, and Parra’s work then, is a welcome break from the formalities of oppression, a migration geometric abstraction, with its absolute control of form, acted at the beginning, as a beacon from the formal linguistics of society; an idea which seems particularly apposite in the ever by which I pretended to guide all aspects of my life, but I found out that this perfection had to expanding enclosures of the metropolis and the reordered urban experience. The anxieties be adapted to our time.’ of modern life seem forgotten on the canvas, becoming shapes of liberation, free from the bounds of social restraint. For Parra, this process of application ‘departs from the profound Indeed, this binary between the subconscious and its representation in reality is a desire to make art,’ instead looking towards an emancipation ‘to create honest, true work, conflict which is successfully explored throughout this exhibition, making for a memorable and be completely free when doing it.’ A freedom which becomes the embodiment of Parra’s and exciting occasion. painterly process. The painting is complete when Parra feels ‘that the consciousness is regaining control of the brush’s movement’ thereby adding to the rusticity and unsettling A Jackson Pollock quote comes to mind, “Every good painter paints what he is’’ - Is this nature of the overall painting, distancing further, the conscious mind from any form of control. then, Parra?
5 6 7 Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Canvas 170 x 170cm
11 Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Canvas 110 x 170cm
14 Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 110cm
16 Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Canvas 170 x 110cm
18 Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Canvas 170 x 110cm
19 Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Canvas 170 x 170cm
25 Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 150cm
28 Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Canvas 170 x 110cm
29 Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on Canvas 170 x 110cm
33 Special Edition Somerset Satin Enhanced 330 gsm Limited Edition Print of 100 54 x 65 cm
37 SANTIAGO PARRA B. 1986- Bogotá, Colombia
Selected Solo Exhibitions Bogotá, Colombia Buenos Aires, Argentina London U.K. 2018 Monumental, Galería Sextante 2011 VOID AND FEELINGS, CHACO, Galería Sextante, ARCO, Galería Filomena Soares, Bogotá, Colombia SP-ARTE, Galería Filomena Soares, Santiago de Chile Madrid, España 2017 Galería ArteConsult, Ciudad São Paulo, Brasil ARTBO, Galería Sextante, 2015 PINTA MIAMI, Galería Sextante, de Panama, Panama THE ARMORY SHOW, Galería Filomena Colombia Miami, U.S.A. 2014 Galería Filomena Soares, Soares, New York, U.S.A PINTA, Galería Sextante, ARTBO, Galería Filomena Soares, Lisboa, Portugal ARCO, Galería Filomena Soares, Nueva York, U.S.A. Galería Sextante, Bogotá, Colombia Galería Isabel Aninat, Madrid, España 2009 ARTBO, Galería Sextante, ARTLIMA, Galería Isabel Aninat, Santiago de Chile, Chile ZONA MACO Galería Filomena Soares, Colombia Arevalo Gallery, Lima Perú Galería Sextante, Bogotá, Colombia Ciudad de México, México Miami, EEUU ARCO, Galería Filomena Soares, 2011 The Warehouse Art, Bogota, Colombia ARTBO, Galería Sextante, Colombia Selected International Art Fairs Madrid, España 2010 Galería Sextante, Bogotá, Colombia 2012 ARTBO, Galería Sextante, 2017 ARTBO, Galería Sextante, 2014 ARTBO, Galería Sextante, Selected Group Exhibitions Colombia ARTMIAMI, Bogotá, Colombia Bogotá, Colombia 2018 MAC GALA, Museo de arte contemporáneo Galería Sextante, Miami. U.S.A ART LIMA, Galería Isabel Aninat, ESTART, Galería Filomena Soares, de la Ciudad de Panama 2011 ARTEBA, Galería Sextante, Lima, Perú Estoril, Portugal 2015 En el mismo Idioma, Galería Isabel Aninat, Buenos Aires, Argentina ARTEBA, Galería Isabel Aninat, PINTA, Galería Filomena Soares, Santiago de Chile, Chile CHACO, Galería Sextante, Buenos Aires, Argentina London, U.K. 2014 Línea Blanda, curaduría Oscar Santiago de Chile ARCO, Galería Filomena Soares, ARTEBA, Galería Isabel Aninat, Roldán Alzate, Sextante, ARTBO, Galería Sextante, Colombia Madrid, España Buenos Aires, Argentina Bogotá, Colombia 2010 ART MIAMI, Galería Sextante, 2016 PINTA MIAMI, Galería Sextante, ART BRUSSELS, Galería Filomena Soares, 2013 6 ̊ Salón de Arte Bidimensional, Fundación Miami. U.S.A. Miami, U.S.A Brussels, Belgium Gilberto Alzate Avendaño FUGA, ARTE BA, Galería Sextante, ART LONDON Lamb Arts,
40 Special Thanks: Jean-David Malat Lara Ustunberk Victoria Aboucaya Santiago Parra JB Fernandez Versini
Text: Richard Morrissey Photographer: Olga Lucía Jordán Graphic Designer: Rafael Barros Catalogue Printing: mintprintcph.co.uk
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