| Patti Parsons |
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From the exhibition catalogue Paint on Metal: Modern and Contemporary Explorations and Discoveries January 29 – May 1, 2005 Arizona artist Patti Parsons sees her work as an experience analogous to living a life, “each being an experience composed of both random and ordered elements.” Her mixed media on aluminum paintings imply order through number sequences (squaring of ten, binary systems, and Fibonacci numbers) and incising marks through the paint to reveal the reflective aluminum surface underneath. In her work, repeated applications of paint become partially obscured by the next, creating a memory of the life of the painting in buried layers—each layer affecting the next1. In the 1980s, Parsons began by painting abstract images of houses, interested in how dwellings both hide and expose, later breaking the image down even further to investigate composites of exteriors and interiors. This series evolved into works concentrating on childhood icons, which she created as small paintings on paper mounted on aluminum panels in groupings. Eventually, these investigations led to working directly on the metal with a focus on repetition, error, color theory, and systems of counting. Sanding the surface of the metal first with fine dry sandpaper, Parsons uses a water-based clear urethane applied with a sponge brush, which creates a slick, shiny surface. She also uses squeegees, brushes, and her fingers to remove the paint when it is wet to reveal the reflective qualities of the metal2. The resulting work is at once conceptually regulated and visually spontaneous. Continuing her fascination with basic systems, Parsons intentionally limits her palette to primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Then she follows her intuition, mixing colors and marking through the paint. Square of Ten, Blue #1 (2003) is an expressive, acrylic painting on aluminum in brilliant blue, deep purple, violet, and red, punctuated with exposed areas of aluminum from dissolved areas of paint and scratched marks. Sensuous overtones emerge from this moody abstraction of drips and smears. Painting vertically to create drips and horizontally to pool the paint, Parsons immerses the senses in spontaneous visual stimuli while imbedding systems of order, reinforcing the dichotomy between control and chaos. Patti Parsons was born in 1963 in Lynchburg,
Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from James Madison
University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 1984. Parsons was included in
“Earthbound,” Arizona State University, Tempe (1993); “Eight by Eight,”
Sun City Art Museum, Sun City, Arizona (1994); “Emerging Artists
Series,” Shemer Art Center, Phoenix, Arizona (1995); and “Arizona
Biennial ’01,” at the Tucson Museum of Art (2001). Her paintings are in
the City of Tempe Municipal Arts Collection, Tempe, Arizona; the Shemer
Art Center, Phoenix, Arizona; and in numerous private collections in
Arizona, New York, and Texas. She lives and works in Ft. McDowell,
Arizona.
–Julie Sasse |
| Copyright © 2007 Patti Parsons |