A tale of Parra's Dutch roots
Searching for inspiration, Piet Parra returned home. There, he re-discovered his Father's drawings from the 90's – sparking nostalgia for the art he grew up surrounded by. Parra cites these drawings by Willem Janssen from this period, where playful depictions of figures and animals laze in settings such as the beach, as a reference point. Their influence on the figuration and composition of his two new prints is clear.
Back in Amsterdam, Parra found yet more inspiration for his beach scene amongst the rolling dunes surrounding the city, where he often rides his race bike.
Artworks by Willem Janssen
Soundscape
The titles for both editions are influenced by the band Parra plays in, MICH. FOUR WALLS reminded him of the melancholy of its namesake song, and in turn influenced the visuals for the accompanying music video. LOST KEYS shares an atmosphere of quite chaos with a song from the band's first album.
Printmaking
Over the sea, printmakers at Make-Ready in London began work on Parra's prints. A close collaboration ensued. It was important when making the prints, Parra's first landscape editions, to mimic the way that he creates his original artworks.
Parra's techniques are 'cine painterly' – he uses solid block colours that sit on top of or next to one another. His palette can be described as analogous. This means the colours sit very close to each other on the colour wheel, and have similar saturation and value, providing a challenge for the printmakers.
In Parra's original canvases, which are phenomenal, there are lots of surface qualities that are very unique. I think that's something we really wanted to bring into the print. So it's a dialogue in the sense that Parra gives us the artwork and we respond to it.
Tom Murphy, Printmaker
Tom from Make-Ready takes his art of printing more seriously than I do my own artwork! He goes over every little detail of the artwork meticulously and makes sure it's translated to paper in the absolute best way possible. The whole process feels very high end and that's exactly how the end product looks and feels.
Piet Parra
