The National Art School Gallery in Sydney is presenting an exhibition of Mike Parr’s work that firmly places the focus upon the seminal artists large body of works on paper and prints. Brain Coral also includes a small selection of video footage of performances that contextualise and support how these modes of Parr’s practice are inter-related and an essential component of the artists’ process of making and communicating.
Born in 1945, Parr is renowned for his confronting performances which explore his own physical limits, memory and subjectivity. These extreme physical feats often depict acts of self mutilation and stand for much more than mere grotesque artifice or spectacle. They serve to point out our own levels of self understanding or misunderstanding as well as protests against comfortable public attitudes. These performances are often documented photographically and on video.
In his own right, Parr’s works on paper show a superb mastery of line and drawing skills – the envy of any great artist worldwide. He has a sensitivity of touch that visually captures the viewers’ attention, balancing topographical finery with a contrasting array of raw mark making- especially when it comes to his dry point etchings. Scale of work and his understanding of viewer responses through years of performance based art also create great impact in his two-dimensional work, making him one of Australia’s most compelling contemporary artists. He has been a pioneer of modern artistic thought in this country and has seen the landscape of our art world change dramatically. This level of experience and his ability to continually survive and avoid any artifice in his provocative ideas reflects his dedication and, like all great artists do, he simply makes interesting and challenging work.
While Parr’s technical skills and prints seem remote from his performance work, both have elements of psychological similarity and intention. His etchings feature a barrage of intense, immediate and radiating lines. Parr has been fascinated with observation and the possibilities and responses of memory distortions. His ‘landscape’ prints are such depictions – memories of views passed by and the intensity of his self portraits highlight his uncompromising analysis of the self and notions of identity.
Of his reasons, he states “I started drawing in 1981 because around that time I stopped doing the body art performances that I’d done throughout the 1970s”, though later he returned to physical performance.
This stimulating exhibition at the NAS Gallery showcases works rarely or never before seen in Sydney. It includes works from the 1970s such as the print-based Black Box series, but also features recent prints and drawings made as recently as in the last 12 months.
NAS Gallery – National Art School
February 24 to April 14, 2012
Mike Parr, Islands of the Dead, 2004, carborundum relief, hand coloured from plywood on 4 sheets of Velin Arches 400 gsm paper, 250 x 480cm, unique state. Courtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery.
