Jose Parla: It’s Yours
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Description
The monograph It's Yours by Jose Parla is published to accompany the solo museum exhibition of the internationally renowned artist at The Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York City. The new paintings evoke the artist's connection to the Bronx and address the suffering caused by redlining policies, the waves of displacement imposed by gentrification, and structural racism.
It's Yours encourages viewers to question ownership in New York's rapidly changing neighbourhoods. The rich building up of surface and Parla's signature gestural line resemble the layers of city walls. The paintings reflect the movement and textures of neighbourhoods, the marks and traces people leave behind, and the energy and challenges of city life. Parla began his art career in the early 1980s painting on walls in Miami, signing his work with the nickname "Ease." Supporting himself by designing album covers and concert flyers for hip-hop artists, then he moved to the Bronx.
The title, It's Yours is borrowed from a song by the influential Bronx rappers T-La Rock, written by his brother Special K, both who encouraged the listener to take ownership in culture.
About the Artist
José Parlá (born 1973) was recently commissioned by One World Trade Center for his monumental mural painting, One: Union of the Senses (November 2014). Other notable mural projects include Nature of Language at the James B. Hunt Jr. Library at North Carolina State University, the mural Diary of Brooklyn at the Barclays Center (2013), and Amistad América at The University of Texas at Austin (2018).
Parlá's work has been exhibited at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; The Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York; and The Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba, among others. Parlá' s work is in several public collections including The British Museum, London, U.K., The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, POLA Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan; and The National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba. Parlá lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
