PERSPECTIVES | richard-m-parrish

AERIAL PERSPECTIVES

A traveling exhibition by Montana-based artist Richard Parrish, first mounted at The Rockwell Museum in Corning, New York; then at the Bullseye Resource Center New York in Mamaroneck and the Bullseye Resource Center Bay Area in Emeryville, California. Bullseye Projects in Portland, Oregon presents the final iteration of Aerial Perspectives, on view May 2 - June 16, 2018.

"Informed by aerial photography, the panels provide a birds-eye view of the landscape," explains Kirsty Buchanan, Curator of Collections at The Rockwell Museum. "Fields, rivers, and crop irrigation patterns are presented in an altered spatial context, while being preserved as recognizable components of the composition. By manipulating the expected vantage point, Parrish controls our engagement with the subject matter and causes us to view the shifting topography of America from a different perspective. Parrish's work serves as a continuation of the rich American landscape tradition."

"Richard Parrish draws from his experience as an architect to develop his landscape-based works in kilnformed glass for Aerial Perspectives. In the Madison Field series, naturally-occurring formations are intersected and interrupted by the rigid circular geometry of center-pivot irrigation. Similarly, Bend (2015) combines organic, flowing curves with industrial colors and angular geometric intersections, forming an unconventional depiction of space and perspective. This final edition of the exhibition features new pieces completed specifically for the Bullseye Projects edition of the show." - Bullseye Projects

Some of the works in my Aerial Perspectivesseries consider the Jeffersonian grid survey of most of the US west of the Mississippi River. The Jeffersonian grid represents the imposition of human will over the land and natural environment. It was a way for the US government to take possession of the land. Aesthetically, I am interested in the way drainages, topography and geology interact with and interrupt geometric impositions such as the grid and the circles of the center pivot irrigation system.