JOSÉ PARLA’S PAINTINGS AT PAMM

Born in Miami to Cuban émigré parents, Parlá was raised between mainland United States and Puerto Rico amidst the vibrant Caribbean and Latin American cultural landscapes of the 1970s and 1980s. Gathering inspiration from various cultural carriers (including Cuban, hip-hop, and reggae music), Parlá embarked on an artistic expedition—receiving the Scholastic Art Award, earning a scholarship to study at Savannah College of Art and Design, immersing himself in the community of New  World  School  of  the Arts, and ultimately moving to New York City, where his  practice found a global  stage with multiple international exhibitions.

Homecoming will be an elaborate, two-part exhibition—and a radical departure from the traditional use of space in a museum. For the first portion, visitors will have the unique opportunity to observe Parlá’s dance-like technique in real time as he paints a. site-specific mural. The second portion will see the museum gallery transformed and converted into Parlá’s studio—a room full of paint-covered tables, a lively vinyl Cuban-inspired records collection, and decades of Parla’s archival memorabilia. In addition to the completed mural and studio recreation, the exhibition will also feature a number of all-new works that Parlá created upon his return to painting.  The result is a process focused exhibition highlighting an expressionistic painter who conscientiously. engages with issues relating to Cuban (and broader diasporic) identity.

The exhibition not only represents a homecoming to Miami but also marks a return to himself and his practice. In 2021, Parlá contracted a life-threatening case of COVID-19—he was hospitalized and endured a four-month coma during which he suffered a stroke and significant brain bleeding.  Homecoming will present new and existing works that Parlá created upon his return to his studio.

José Parlá (b.1973) creates paintings and multidisciplinary works based on his interest in hybrid forms of abstraction. He draws inspiration from various mediums including music, calligraphy, dance, and the decay of urban architecture and advertisements. His works poetically challenge ideas about language, politics, identity, and how we define places and spaces. Parlá’s relationship with mark-making is physical and textural, incorporating the body’s gestures into a painterly stream of consciousness composed of areas of addition, erasure, and layering that challenge the status quo of visual culture.