The exhibition will take place during Art HK 09 and will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by scholars Alexandra Chang of New York University - Asia Pacific Center and critical theorist and art historian Michael Betancourt. An artist talk by Jose Parla will be co-hosted by The Pawn on the 16th of May 2009. In conjunction with ART HK 09, The Pawn is hosting a series of art related VIP events from the 15 of May through the 17 of May 2009.

Jose Parla's new works are inspired by his recent travels in France, Japan and the United Kingdom. Parla's unique and playful inscriptions and diary-like gestures with his trademark hand-writing recall his personal observations of how the idiosyncratic behavior of anonymous individuals on those distant streets distinctly impact each geographical environment.

The complexity of Jose Parla's mixed media paintings is based on the layering of images and paraphernalia collected from his daily encounters at home and his adventures abroad, interpreted through his dynamic gestural process. Interleaved through each work is Parla's calligraphic script, which infuses each piece with vibrancy, energy and meaning.

Memories, thoughts, ideas, quotes, phrases, conversations and observations scrawled in Parla's instantly recognizable, flowing script reflect his characteristic fusion of writing and painting, word and image. His brushwork depicts walls in the city, or in rural areas outside of urban centers, while his mélange of imagery and words hint at stories within stories, an evocation of the places that have deeply affected him.

About Jose Parla

Jose Parla is a New York based artist whose paintings reflect the way in which cities function as palimpsests. Born in Miami, Parla traveled in the Caribbean, South America, Asia and Europe in the 1990s before settling permanently in New York. His work has been collected and exhibited by Agnes B. Galerie Du Jour in Paris and Takashi Murakami's Kai Kai Ki Ki Gallery in Tokyo. Major recent exhibitions include, The New Grand Tour showing in Hong Kong and Beijing (2007-08), Adaptation / Translation at Elms Lesters Painting Rooms in London (2008), The New Yorkers at V1 Gallery in Denmark, curated by Mikkel Grønnebæk and Todd James and Layered Days with Cristina Grajales' Soho Gallery in New York City (2008). Forthcoming is the Stages Art Tour, by the Livestrong Foundation at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris.

Image:
JOSE PARLA
Weschester Plaza, Miami, 2009
mixed media, oil, acrylic and
plaster on canvas
48 x 84 inches, 121.93 x 213.36 cm
Courtesy of Ooi Botos Gallery

Ooi Botos Gallery
5 Gresson Street,
Wanchai, Hong Kong
+852.2527.9733
info @ ooibotos.com