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ground is broken up enough to allow it to compete with the figures for your attention. It gets it too; especially where the yellow is encircled and otherwise trapped by the red, blue and green shapes. Relative to the Simple Paintings these pieces are less minimal and further extend the sensuality of Parker�s esthetic from the 50s. |
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Another difference is how much more color is evident in this work when compared to the paintings from the late 50s. Look at the Untitled from 1968 where the hues are not only multitudinous but also bright and charming. There is a pleasing sweetness to this painting that never dissolves into pure design (a real potential danger given the flat graphic quality of the forms and color). For one thing the space is carved up in all sorts of interesting ways. A sort of mad, chaotic logic is at work that is only possible in painting and no visual designer could truly pull off the juxtaposition and proportions of color and shape that are present here. Now contrast this with the relatively minimal Untitled from 1970 where the forms (birds? flowers?) seem to float in an expanse of blue sky. Both canvases are approximately the same size and although they clearly differ from each other, they nevertheless belong to one another in that they are of the same sensibility. |
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Ray Parker, Untitled, 1974, oil on canvas, 24.25 x 30 in |
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Indeed this is true of all the work from this period in Parker�s career. As with the Simple Paintings this body of work comprises a single unified esthetic. But as individual pieces they careen all over the place and, though caught up in the fabric |
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Ray Parker, Untitled, 1968, oil on canvas, 90 x 110 in |
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Ray Parker, Untitled, 1970, oil on canvas, 91 x 115 in |
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of a particular vision, they also manage to challenge it. From this perspective the content of Parker�s art has remained consistent throughout his career. Whatever you might read into or out of his forms his preoccupation was a pure painterly abstract distillation of form, color, surface and ground. Each of these elements is imbued with equal weight as to significance in the work. But |
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Ray Parker, Untitled (For Denise), 1974, oil on canvas, 21.75 x 34.5 in |
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