Erik Parker

Mary Boone Gallery will open at its Chelsea location New Mood, an exhibition of new paintings by Erik Parker.

With intricate patterning and kaleidoscopic color, Erik Parker's distinctive paintings are a mash-up of the styles and iconography of Pop, graffiti, psychedelia, Kustom Kulture, outsider art, and comics. They capture the modern condition of being subjected to a constant feed of disparate visual information.

A focal point of the current exhibition, the Artist's first at the Gallery, is three large pyramid-shaped canvases arranged on one wall - a hallucinatory postcard view of Giza. The conspicuous stone courses are rendered as bands of interspersed painted and collaged elements. Tanks, aliens, Rasta men, clouds, Shirley MacLaine, hi-fi stereos, vines, waves, Miss Piggy, and Mr. Potato Head all make an appearance in these captivating sub-narratives. Each pyramid too is emblazoned with its title: Feelin Lucky, Hood Wink, Shake Down, phrases that have become part of the contemporary global vernacular.

Striated pyramids appear again in New Mood and Cahoots, two complex compositions of distorted figures in silhouette against windows and suffused with tropical imagery. Lush pools, waterfalls, and palm trees are pervasive in Parker's work: with their sultry colors and exotic allure, they act to seduce the viewer into his escapist fantasy.

An ongoing series of "Plank" paintings shows Parker freestyling on various motifs. The unusual format of these canvases - tall and narrow and leaning against the wall - evokes both Minimalist sculpture and surfboards. The ten foot high Limbo is shaped as an outline of Brancusi's Endless Column. Here, the sole image is a colonnade of palm trees silhouetted against a glowing neon sky.