“Everything I study about the landscape is not even a permanent part of it, but is in transit, just as I am.” Paul Parrella, a Venezuelan painter, develops a pictorial proposal based on the transience of human life, on the ontological (who I am, where I come from, why I am here, where I am going, what is my purpose in life) and its relationship with those phenomena of the landscape that are as fleeting as we are. The transparency of water, the stain of a shadow, or the undefined shape of a cloud are the essence of his work as a visual artist.

Through his work, Parrella appropriates space, light, and the environment that belongs only to those who witness it. “It is a practice to avoid forgetting. I maintain an intimate relationship with a natural event that is part of my time and space, which I record, and I record it from a particular emotionality, in dialogue with the medium, with the material, with the moment I have.”

In Anotaciones sobre el agua (Notes on Water, 2005), his first series, Parrella highlights this need to engage with fleeting elements of nature that have an impact on his immediate reality. His abstract work juxtaposes large planes of color that build up transparencies, exploring the vitality of color.

Anotaciones sobre la luz (Notes on Light, 2007) is a study born in the open air. Light is studied based on the shadows of ceiba, bucare, and saman trees (typical Caribbean trees) on canvas. His second series navigates between the abstract and the figurative. Parrella renounces color. His black-and-white language moves between two fully connected territories that offer the viewer two different perspectives on the work.

In Anotaciones sobre el cielo (2012) “everything is evident.” Photos and drawings compiled for the research are physically present in the work: there is a specific study of the shape of clouds, there is a serial work of images that are transformed into Paul Parrella’s characteristic pictorial stain.

Paul Parrella

Studies

1999-2005 Armando Reverón University Institute of Higher Studies in Fine Arts (Caracas, Venezuela).
2005 Honorable Mention in Painting at the Juan Lovera Municipal Visual Arts Award.
2000 Painting Award at the Young Artists of the East Exhibition.

Group exhibitions

2015 Analogies on Disappearance, G Siete Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela Eugenio Mendoza Award, 12+1 Edition, Mendoza Hall. Caracas, Venezuela.

2013 Iberoamerican Art Fair, Seoul, South Korea Levedad, Densidad (Lightness, Density), Integrated Arts Center, Caracas, Venezuela.

Paralelos, Galería D´museo, Centro de Arte los Galpones. Caracas, Venezuela.

2012 Floating Matter, Alejandro Otero Museum, Caracas, Venezuela Contemporary Dialogues, Museum of Contemporary Art. Caracas, Venezuela.

2011 Pintón pasado. Fresh paint, GBG ARTS. Caracas, Venezuela.

2008 Ojo Latino, la mirada de un continente (Latin Eye, the gaze of a continent), Luciano Benetton Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC). Santiago, Chile.

2008 64th Arturo Michelena Biennial, Drawing and Print Cabinet of Valencia. Carabobo, Venezuela.

2007 Ibero American Artist’s Winter Salon, Jadite Gallery. New York, United States.

2007 X Young Artists Exhibition with FIA: A traditional exhibition, Corp Group Cultural Center Foundation. Caracas, Venezuela.

2005 VIII Young Artists Exhibition with FIA: Open Perspectives, Corp Group Cultural Center Foundation. Caracas, Venezuela.

Solo exhibitions

2009 From the Cellar, La Carnicería Arte Actual, Caracas, Venezuela.
2008 Notes on the Sea, Universidad de Oriente, Núcleo Sucre. Cumaná, Venezuela.
2007 Intemperie, La Carnicería Arte Actual. Caracas, Venezuela.
2007 Expresiones paralelas, Alejandro Otero Museum (MAO). Caracas, Venezuela.
2006 Color de agua, Artepuy Gallery. Caracas, Venezuela.

Awards

He has participated in important art exhibitions and projects both in Venezuela and internationally. His work is represented in collections and among the countries where he has exhibited, Germany, China, the United States, Venezuela, and Chile stand out. Parrella has received recognition in exhibitions and biennials, among which the following stand out:
2007 Mention in Painting at the First Banco Caroní National Exhibition for New Artists, Alejandro Otero Museum.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.