IN NEW YORK

Once again it is a great pleasure to exhibit new paintings by John Alexander Parks and most especially because he has recently been making paintings about New York, his adopted home for more than three decades.  For much of this time Parks has painted subjects that bear on English life using his vantage point as a British exile. Those pictures are often at once nostalgic and gently ironic.  Parks brings a new energy, lively wit and considerable poignancy to his very personal vision of New York.

A gifted colorist, sensitive draftsman and delightful handler of paint, Parks mixes whimsical humor and enormous sympathy for his subjects.  His works are inviting, accessible and entertaining but their full import can take time to sort out and fully savor.  They are the paintings of an artist who is thoroughly and wonderfully engaged with the world around him.

Although he has kept a modest profile as an artist Parks has accrued some serious critical acclaim over the years. Writing in the New York Times as long ago as 1982, the great critic John Russell described Parks as “…a true poet in paint and something of a find.” In December of 2012 Roberta Smith, the current chief art critic of the Times, described Parks’ painting as “…a treat to discover.”

Parks was born in Leeds, England in 1952, and studied at the Royal College of Art in London.  He has lived in and around New York since 1976 and was represented for many years by Allan Stone, the legendary art dealer and gallerist.  He is a member of the faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New York where he teaches drawing and painting.  He recently authored a general introduction to the world of art entitled “Universal Principles of Art,” Rockport Publishing, 2014. His work is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design and many others.