Artist Statement
William Parker’s art explores the relationships between memory, emotion and sensory input. Why do past events often leave behind memories and feelings that are utterly disproportionate to their original significance? Why do some trivial events become memorable and evocative when others do not? What is the physical connection between emotion and memory?
These are the questions that motivate William Parker’s practice. The attempt to communicate the intangible is endlessly challenging, but made possible by the viewers’ and artist’s shared humanity.
William works mainly in acrylics, in a gestural abstract expressionist style inspired by the work of abstract expressionists from the 1950s and early 60s such as Willem de Kooning and the heavily worked surfaces of his ‘urban’ and Parkway landscapes, and Richard Diebenkorn’s Albuquerque and Berkeley landscapes. For William, both artists achieve an unstudied, immediate, spontaneous feel that belies the craft at the heart of their pictures.
Artist Bio
William Parker is an abstract expressionist painter. His work is inspired primarily by mid-century abstract expressionists and current artists including Reginald Sylvester II, Eddie Martinez and Joe Bradley. He is self-taught, with occasional courses taken at Queen Elizabeth Park, Dundas Valley School of Art, and Visual Arts Mississauga.
William Parker’s work has been selected for inclusion in juried shows at Visual Arts Mississauga, Oakville Art Society’s Art In The Park, Queen West Art Crawl, Leslie Grove Gallery, and Riverdale ArtWalk. William’s work is also proudly displayed by collectors in Hong Kong, the UK, the US, and Canada.
