Greg Parker
American, born 1952
The work of Maine artist Greg Parker has as its basis American geometric abstraction of the 20th century. He earned his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in the mid-1970s, and currently teaches painting at the University of Southern Maine. His work is represented by galleries in Boston, New York City, San Francisco, and Portland, Maine.
The pristine surfaces of Parker’s drawings and paintings are comprised of finely worked layers, whether graphite on paper, or oil and pigment on gesso panel, as in the two works of art represented on this website. Delicate lines help define his images; in the graphite drawing, these are additive in nature and build to describe geometric form through line and value. This particular example of his flat work on paper is float-mounted, with spacers protecting the surface of the paper from the glass of the frame.
The painting also seems as much constructed as painted, comprised as it is of a strict linear framework of gradient brown tones and stark white. This is broken only by deftly-incised, slender and organic lines that build on and defy the prescribed character of the work as established by its rigid geometric structure. This conceptual program is carried around to the edges of the painting, where the geometric construct continues and emphasizes the depth of the panel, approximately 2 inches.
While painted in 2000, this work had been scratched on the surface while in the possession of the previous owner. The artist himself repaired the painting in 2007; in his words, he “practically repainted” the piece. Its condition, as currently executed, is pristine.
Greg Parker’s work is represented in the permanent collections of the Portland Museum of Art in Maine, the DeCordova Museum in Massachusetts, and the British Museum in London, UK. He is represented in corporate and private collections internationally.
Weston LaFountain, Independent Curator