A Thing of Beauty: The Work of José Parlá

This month I had the opportunity to guest edit the art section of Guernica Magazine. I featured Brooklyn Artist, José Parlá.

My work is inspired by the anonymous art found in the streets. The art may be calligraphy or torn and stripped posters. The inscriptions in my work are used as a form of drawing, and to maintain a record of my observations. In my paintings I create layers and textures representing the ages of memories collected through different periods of my life. When working on my paintings I imagine different people are making choices to write, paint, or destroy the surfaces. With this language I hope to communicate and provoke thoughts of the past and present conditions in the human spirit.

His work has been exhibited and collected by Agnes B. Galerie Du Jour in Paris during the New York Scene exhibition (2003), and the Hi & Lo exhibition curated by Takashi Murakami and Hiroshi Fujiwara at Kai Kai Ki Ki gallery in Tokyo in 2009.

See the full feature in Guernica here.

The Photography of Scott Peterman

This month I was lucky enough to be one of the contributing art editors for Guernica Magazine.  I selected the photography of Scott Peterman whose work I came across and fell in love with back in 2002 when i first moved to NYC.  The series I selected for Guernica is of his ice fishing shacks, which he spent several years photographing in the lakes region of Maine and New Hampshire.   As Scott addresses in his statement, the “bobhouses” illustrate a narrative that is the essence of survival in the freezing temperatures of the region.  They are entirely utilitarian in their purpose using lightweight windproof materials providing warmth and shelter against the elements.  See more of the series here.