CONTINUOUS FLOW: A Year of Artistic Exploration

Martin Mullen Art Gallery SUNY Oneonta

Over the last year I have had several versions of an exhibition that I call, Continuous Flow. The first in Boston at Soprafina Gallery, the second and largest at SUNY Oneonta, and in April, a third at Gremillion and Company, Fine Art, Inc. in Houston, Texas.

These shows came at an interesting time for me. In 2017, as I was preparing for these exhibitions, I lost use of my hands for six months. I had double trigger thumbs, which meant I could not bend my thumbs, write my name, or hold a brush. What to do? I kept working.

I had already been augmenting my representational work with splattering paint and other means of applying paint, so I wasn't at a complete loss as to how to proceed. But I did decide to give myself room to do a lot of experimentation with materials, imagery, and application. In many ways, this process brought me back to my roots as an abstract painter.

What evolved was an exhibition that certainly reflected this experimentation, and yet throughout the work there was a cohesion. I believe that it came from a couple of sources. First of all, all the work was going through my filter - so light and questions of illusion and representation were going to be part of it. But also the words I would use to describe this exhibition has to do with frequency and resonance. And almost all of the work had some sort of dialog going on with "the other side".

People have described my paintings as portals. I find this both amusing and accurate. As a child my greatest desire was to live inside a painting. Moving in and out of the depicted space is always something I have been after, whether the piece is abstract or representational. Above is the blueprint of the gallery, followed by the work in the order that it was laid out and how it looked in the space.

Tree in Twilight, 67” x 96”, oil and metallic paint on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2015

Wood Path, 46” x 46”, oil and metallic paint on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2018

Mirroring Shadowy Light, 20” x 20”, oil on linen, © Leslie Parke 2018

Mysterious Mercury, 20” x 20”, oil on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2018

Summer Rain, 20” x 20”, oil on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2018

Gate, 40” x 72”, oil on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2018

Gate, 18.5” x 34”, photograph, archival inkjet print, ©Leslie Parke 2018

Look Inside, 17” x 34”, photograph, archival inkjet print, ©Leslie Parke 2018

End of the Line, 48” x 48”, ballpoint pen on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2018

Accelerating Geometries, 12” x 24”, metallic graphite on panel, © Leslie Parke 2018

Perfect Zeros, 12” x 24”, metallic graphite on panel, © Leslie Parke 2018

Resurface, 18” x 24”, archival inkjet print, photograph, © Leslie Parke 2018

Surfacing, 18” x 24”, archival inkjet print, photograph, © Leslie Parke 2018

The Queen's Skirt, 65” x 94”, oil and metallic paint on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2018

What's Revealed, 66” x 36”, oil and metallic paint on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2016

Leaning Insulation, 60” x 40”, oil on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2014. Photo: Jon Barber

Silver Light, 46” x 96”, silver graphite and blackboard paint on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2018

The Path, 72” x 30”, oil and metallic paint on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2018

New Day, 66” x 96”, oil and metallic paint on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2019

Boat-Yard, 34” x 25.5”, archival ink-jet print, photograph, © Leslie Parke 2016

Light on the River, 66” x 93.5”, oil and metallic paint on canvas, © Leslie Parke 2015

Continuous Flow at SUNY Oneonta