Jonathan Parker

I make my work using simple, direct processes: painting colors onto canvas or fabric, cutting shapes from the painted material, then sewing the shapes onto a canvas background. My pieces include elements of drawing, painting, and more provisional approaches like mending and appliqué. I rely on the physical qualities of my materials — canvas that is stained or marked, with raw cut edges that have a rough feeling — to evoke different associations. The invented shapes are important elements in my compositions; they can be minimal or more layered and complicated, depending on where the work takes me. My intention is not to make serial work; instead I repeat or elaborate using a loose, invented visual vocabulary of forms, trusting my subconscious to guide these repetitions and elaborations so that the forms evolve into variations. When I make art, I have something to say, however, when I stand before a finished work, it has something to say to me. And if the painting works, it speaks not in my voice but in a universal language.