Parra, an Amsterdam-based artist who has a penchant for drawing strange bird-like characters just opened a show of new work in Manhattan. The title for the exhibit, “Yer So Bad,” was taken from a Tom Petty song of the same name and features bold paintings limited to a minimal color palette. Jonathan Levine Gallery explains:
Titled after the Tom Petty song, “Yer So Bad,” which tells the story of a girl who marries a “yuppie” and takes him for all he’s worth, this exhibition features the artist’s signature hybrid figures and freeform typography in works on canvas and paper. With an aesthetic rooted in Pop Art and the experimental graphics of the 1960s, Parra’s multi-disciplinary work spans cohesively across drawing, painting and animation.
The esoteric characters Parra creates are curvaceous, nude subjects with bird-like features. Portrayed in a variety of suggestive circumstances, the artist creates this provocative species with a comic-like sensibility. For his works on canvas he uses a bold color palette of highly saturated red and blue while his ink on paper drawings reinforce the graphic quality of his compositions using black and white simplicity.
“Yer So Bad,” Parra, Jan 8 – Feb 18, Jonathan Levine Gallery, NYC
(Photos: Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork)
