The Knapp Gallery is pleased and excited to announce an exhibit of the taut and emotionally charged paintings of Kenneth E. Parris III. Pulling Focus is a show anchored by small rendered details that evoke larger contexts and frameworks which perpetually shift and change.
There are no defined boundaries and demure silhouettes within Parris’ work. Rather, he crops scenes off-center, and the bodies he depicts are strained with effort. The act of looking for the viewer becomes uncomfortable, and initial understanding of the scene is suspended. Something is not quite right within the images Parris presents, and this forces the viewer to look closely and wonder what exactly is hinted at within Parris’ visual narrative. The master of creating this ‘suspension,’ of time, place and emotion, Parris strives to divorce his audience from preconceived notions of what it means to look and what it means to see.
Within the larger structure of Parris’ paintings, the strength and elegance of his compositions become definitive. While Parris focuses on moments of suspension to draw attention to the overlooked details that stand in for a larger message, it is impossible to dislocate these details from the larger arrangement. Playing with the idea of the current political dialogue between isolated events and the larger global picture, Parris’ pieces quietly hint at a parallel between the visual suspensions in his work and the changing face of popular culture, politics and public dissonance.
A springboard of ideas, the tight, controlled brushstrokes of Parris’ paintings evoke the power, dominance and discord not only within his figures but within his composition and his larger social context.
Join us for this powerful and exciting show!
Artist’s Statement
“Pulling Focus” is a body of work that centers on capturing the moment between looking, seeing, then realizing…the instant when perception turns inward.
This work is directly influenced by current world events. By narrowing focus, I see less black and white and find more beauty and possibility in uncertainty. The smaller moments provide clarity to the picture as a whole. My faith lies in the ability to learn and rebuild collectively as focus moves through and throughout.
I am interested in the space between the lines. When attention shifts from one thing to another, things are not always as they first seem. Quiet and subtle scenes become amplified. Compositions of a family’s home against a looming sky or a woman in a bathtub with light pouring into another room are cropped in a way that cause one to question what the subject really is. In the foreground of another piece, details of individual links appear in extreme scale forming a chain that extends back to serve the greater goal of restraint. Irony is discovered in the reality of paper boats that are set free only later to catch on fire. Blankets and sheets twist and stretch as the body is engaged in a way that seems to say “yes” and “no” simultaneously. The viewer is implicated, having to decide whether what is happening is an act of passion or violence.
My process consists of painting over layers of paper collages on wood panels. The layers are built up and, in select sections, broken down by stripping and scarring the surface. Brush strokes build to heightened refinement while other parts are less layered giving the whole piece a sense of immediacy. In some pieces, objects have been used as symbols forging a deeper narrative.
It is my intention that this work will stimulate a personal experience for the viewer that will promote the navigation of different perspectives.