canvas zine with two oil-painting pages, metallic leaf, waxed linen threadGalerie Francesca Pia
Description
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The artwork features two painted rocks that depict stylized human faces. The colors used are predominantly warm shades of yellow and orange, creating an abstract and expressive quality. The faces are rendered with distinct features like glasses and distinctive hair, suggesting a portrait-like quality. The rocks are connected by a thin black cord, adding an element of interactivity or connection between the two elements. The artwork seems to explore themes of identity, individuality, and the human form through an innovative and unconventional medium. The artist's intention may be to challenge traditional notions of portraiture and self-representation. ...
Parma Smith constantly investigates the visual elements in our daily life through oil painting, blending this traditional art form with various formats of assemblage or juxtaposition. The painterly styles in his work span a wide range of genres, including still life, nudes, landscapes, calligraphy, and graffiti. Smith delves into the seemingly mundane through his paintings and creates works filled with references. His work displays remarkable versatility and adaptability to different styles while presenting a unique perspective on familiar and diverse sources. By incorporating elements such as coloured pencils, oranges, and origami paper, Smith reinvents the concept of mass-culture images reminiscent of the appropriation that was a defining characteristic of Pop Art in the 1960s. His art evokes a sense of nostalgia and revives experimental practices developed in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, such as fanzines, while also maintaining his focus on the status of images in current society, which are continually diverted and reinterpreted by digital culture. ...
Galerie Francesca Pia was founded 1990 in Bern and from their first exhibitions forward has consistently fostered contemporary artists including Betty Woodman (1990), Peter Fischli & David Weiss (1992), Hans-Peter Feldmann (1993), Thomas Bayrle (1998), Mai-Thu Perret (2000), Wade Guyton (2004), Jutta Koether (2008) and Rochelle Feinstein (2016) et al. Today the gallery is known for the discovery and promotion of emerging artists. After 16 years in Bern, the gallery moved to a larger space in Zurich in 2007. In 2012 the gallery extended and relocated to a more generous space in the historic Löwenbrau building, where it continues to engage in an ambitious program, representing over thirty artists of different generations. ...
