Julio Parra is a Master of Fine Arts graduated from the National University of Colombia, whose great interest lies in creating personal experiences that allow him to build his own vision of what it means to be part of this vast universe with its multiple languages.
Parra’s effervescent doodle works and splashy brushstrokes on the stiff canvas reflect a positive vision similar to that portrayed by Basquiat. His works show a raw innocence and authenticity inspired by the primitivism of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. However, his work is based on a more innate, powerful and instinctive essence, boldly woven into a contemporary form.
His paintings offer us a lens to observe capitalism, beauty and urban decay, as well as social and economic inequality and exploitation in Latin American society. Parra’s work also often depicts mundane objects and consumer products.
Julio Parra’s work, although deeply personal, contains universal elements. He is nourished by the history of art, takes references from his environment, expresses himself freely and is fully aware of his specialty. It treats each aspect with frankness, giving them all an equal hierarchy during the process and thus enriching its content. His risky use of color fluctuates between varied and intense ranges and disconcerting tones, creating authentic poetic atmospheres.
His graphics oscillate between words and signs that emerge spontaneously on the surface of a pictorial space free of similarities with the outside world. The word is configured to become an image. Because there is destruction, he allows himself to build, turning his work into contour, drawing, form and stroke.
Julio Parra conceives painting as a space for experimentation and reflection, creating his own language, honest in its process and clear in its execution. Through color, line and symbol, he creates a subtle and playful narrative, relying on the power of painting as a means of human expression.
His constantly moving images reflect on our unfinished and ever-expanding world, without a defined end state and in constant evolution.
Parra initially allows chance, accident and improvisation to guide his abstraction, but at one point in the process, he resorts to critical analysis to extract a concrete and conscious result from the experience.
