Released on = November 23, 2006, 9:44 pm

Press Release Author = Spoonfed

Industry = Entertainment

Press Release Summary = CITYSCAPES: JOSÉ PARLÁ curated by Manon Slome of The
Chelsea Art Museum.

CONTACT:
| al@spnfd.com | Al Moran @ Spoonfed |
| http://www.spnfd.com/cityscapes/ |
| info@joseparla.com | José Parlá |

Press Release Body = Spoonfed is proud to present Miami native, New York based
artist José Parlá for his Miami solo debut and book launch (pre-opening) December
6th, 2006 and reception Dec, 8th at The Mitchell Rubenstein\'s Park Avenue Loft
located in the middle of South Beach and the Art Deco District one block from the
Bass Museum of Art: 2228 Park Avenue Miami Beach, FL 33139. Tel: 305.637.3750.

Miami, December 2006 − "CITYSCAPES" marks Parlá's first Miami solo exhibition.

José Parlá's paintings are immediately powerful with a swaying rhythm and an unruly
soulfulness that embraces rather than overwhelms; at once balanced and complex, both
mysterious and deeply lyrical, abstract and intensely literal. His images occupy
vast spaces filled with windswept clouds, commercial poster fragments, and
remembered architecture while stylized calligraphic writings introduce grace and
tension as a distinctly human gesture. The compositions are often mounted or
executed directly on wood panel, and the solidity of this foundation gives warmth
and mass to the paintings, upholding the illusion of the spaces they describe. José
works on a large scale using materials and methods of architectural
construction-cement, wood and vinyl-as well as traditional art incorporating paper,
paint, powdered dye, wax, and ink. Parlá's expert, passionate brushwork and subtly
shifting palettes resolve themselves into walls, tags, skies and sidewalks, as seen
through the veils of time and memory. When discussing the work he often uses terms
like synthetic and segmented, referring to the world's cities as virtual
palimpsests, upon which are recorded in literal, figurative and ongoing layering
process of the personal histories of countless anonymous passersby.

Though still quite young, the conceptual passions that would become the foundation
of Parlá's voice as an artist have been on his mind since he was a child. Born in
Miami into a family of Cuban exiles, Parlá moved to Puerto Rico at an early age
before returning to Miami when he was nine. He currently lives and works in New
York, and only recently traveled to Cuba for the first time. His life, like his
work, is therefore at once extremely particular and generally reflective of the
wanderings of today\'s urban populations. Moving was never a simple question of
packing his bags. Instead, he augmented his aesthetic observations with an
analytical, almost sociological perspective on the cities in which he lingered and
through which he walked and continues to walk.

Parlá was awarded the Francis McCommon Scholarship to the Savannah College of Art &
Design, Georgia in 1989. At New World School of the Arts he studied Advanced
Painting with Mel Alexemberg. He has exhibited locally and internationally from
Miami, Los Angeles, New York to Paris and Tokyo. His work is featured in the
collections of Agnes B., Tom Ford, Katy Barker, and has been published in various
publications such as Tokion, Booth Clibborn's 718 Brooklyn Style, Juxtapoz,
BLK/MRKT's One (Die Gestalten) and The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Parlá was
selected by Manon Slome to exhibit his work with Mimmo Rotella at the Chelsea Art
Museum in New York in 2004. José was recently invited to exhibit his work and
lecture on painting and printmaking classes at Whitworth College and MAC Museum in
Spokane, Washington.


Web Site = http://www.spnfd.com/cityscapes/

Contact Details = Cityscapes
2228 Park Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
305.637.3750

Jose Parla | info@joseparla.com |
http://www.joseparla.com

Al Moran | al@spnfd.com |
(305)637-3750