Ep.222 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. Parlá was born to Cuban parents in Miami, Florida, and lives and works out of Brooklyn, New York. He studied painting at Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia; the New World School of the Arts, Miami, Florida; and Miami Dade College, Miami, Florida. Solo exhibitions of Parlá’s work have been organized at institutions such as The Bronx Museum, New York (2022); Gana Art Center, Seoul (2022); Istanbul’74, Istanbul (2019); Hong Kong Contemporary Art (HOCA) Foundation, Hong Kong (2019); Neuberger Museum of Art, New York (2018); SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah (2017); Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), New York (2017); Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas (2016); High Museum of Art, Atlanta (2015); amongst others. Public arts projects include permanent large-scale commissions including Far Rockaway Writer’s Library, a collaboration between Snøhetta and Parlá, New York (2023); University of Texas, Austin (2018); ONE World Trade Center, New York (2015); A collaboration with Snøhetta, Hunt Library at North Carolina State University, Raleigh (2013); Barclays Center, New York (2012); Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), New York (2012); Concord City Place, Toronto (2010). Select group exhibitions and biennials include The Culture: Hip Hop & Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore (2023); Brooklyn Abstraction, Four Artists, Four Walls, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2022); Reflections, Gana Art, Seoul (2019); Glasstress, Fondazione Berengo Art Space, Venice (2019); Beyond the Streets, New York (2019); Yasiin bey: Negus, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2019); Victors for Art, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor (2017); Post No Bills: Public Walls as Studio and Source, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York (2016); Seeing, Saying, Images and Words, Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, North Carolina (2016); Wrinkles of the City: Havana Cuba: JR & José Parlá, the Havana Biennial, Havana (2012); amongst others. Parlá's work is in several public collections including the Brooklyn Museum, New York; The British Museum, London; Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York; El Espacio, Miami; POLA Museum of Art, Japan; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida; The Gordon Parks Foundation, Pleasantville, NY; The Neuberger Museum of Art, New York; and The National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana. Parlá serves on the board of National YoungArts Foundation. Parlá has received numerous awards, including the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Alumni Achivement Award (2024) Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship (2023), the Hirshhorn Museum Artist x Artist honoree (Hank Willis Thomas x José Parlá) (2023), National Young Arts Foundation Award (2022), Americans for the Arts National Art Award (2022), Americans for the Arts Public Art Network (2019), Miami Dade College Alumni Hall of Fame Award inductee (2016), Brooklyn Arts Council honoree (2014), Institute of Contemporary Arts(ICA) London – Grand Prize (2013), Heartland Film Festival - Best Documentary Short and Best U.S. Premiere for Wrinkles of the City, Havana (2013) Scholastic Art Award. Photographer James Chororos
