JS Parker 1944-2017
Highly regarded by collectors nationally and internationally, JS Parker is best known for his large impasto paintings within a grid format, full of texture, rhythm and balance within his imposed framework, exploring juxtapositions of colour. He worked in thick layers of paint applied with a palette knife, sweeps of paint which he would pare back to reveal hints of what lies beneath.
JS (John) Parker studied at Ilam School of Fine Arts, Christchurch and graduated with Honours in Painting in 1967. Highly regarded by collectors, nationally and internationally, Parker is best known for his large impasto paintings within a grid format. His works are full of texture, rhythm, and balance within his imposed framework. Parker worked in thick layers of paint applied with a palette knife - sweeps of paint, which he pared back to reveal hints of what lies beneath.
For Parker, it is the sense of an inner radiance in his paintings which allows the viewer to relate to the "spirit" of the painting. Parker had always been drawn to emotive rather than hard-edged art and believed in eliminating in painting any obstacles to the spirit: "If your painting's going to have a language, it's got to be felt. It's a physical thing."
Parker painted full-time since he was awarded the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 1975. In 2002, Parker was awarded the ONZM in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in recognition of his services to painting over the previous four decades. He lived and worked in Marlborough until his death in August 2017.
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JS ParkerPlain Song: Small Study - Blue & Brown, 2016Oil on canvas45.5 x 35.5 cm
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JS ParkerPlain Song: Small Study - Blue & Brown, 2010Oil on canvas80 x 120 cm
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JS ParkerPlain Song: The Light Plain - Towards Evening, 2015Oil on canvas122 x 152 cm
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JS ParkerPlain Song: The Light Plain - Winter Sun, 2015Oil on canvas122 x 152 cm
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JS ParkerPlainsong: Composition with Cross, 1998Oil on paper120 x 79 cm
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JS ParkerPlainsong: From Guernsey Road - Winter , 2007Oil on paper99 x 69 cm
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JS ParkerPlainsong: Sunlit, 2017Oil on canvas122 x 101.5 cm
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JS ParkerPlain Song: The Light Plain - Around Dusk, 2015Oil on canvas122 x 152 cm
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JS ParkerPlain Song ‘Hymns to Light’ - The Broad Band of Light, 1999Oil on canvas153 x 183 cm
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JS ParkerPlainsong: Duality - For Autumn, 2010Oil on canvas80 x 120 cm