Art The World, Plain and Simple
Written by Daniel Brantley
David A. Parker doesn’t show wonders or once-in-a-lifetime images. He shows viewers their lives in all their dullness, with a sprinkle of intrigue for good measure.
Viewed by many as a dull, lifeless realm of concrete and cookie-cutter homes, suburban America can be turned into a place of interest if evaluated through the right lens. That’s what sculptor, videographer, performance artist, and photographer David A. Parker does with his camera lens. Because nothing says transformation like turning the everyday and dull into self-evaluation.
For a closer look, consider “Home/Giza.” It’s a rather bland photo of a two-story, blue house with a minivan, small SUV, and a sedan in the driveway. The lawn is in good shape, but not pristine to the point of absurdity. Like similar homes down the street probably feature, this one has a small satellite dish on the roof and an adjustable basketball goal is rendered useless by the minivan parked beneath. While the photo gains interest with its triangular shape, it remains a simple photo of a home in a subdivision in Anywhere, U.S.A.
To put some curiosity, Parker’s “Circular Reasoning Series” takes viewers into the skies and the trees, where the sunlight breaks through the clouds to show a varied landscape. The bulk of the surroundings are ordinary enough, but the massive circular, hollow material floating in the sky would register as an unidentified flying object in any state in the Union. Each image of the “Escape Series” is also fairly ordinary, with a ladder leading to a door in the sky or a man jumping from a trampoline for relevance. And while the pictures obviously have artistic strength in the eyes of many, they often cease to provide more insight than many would-be photographers capture with their untrained eyes.
What is the worth of Parker’s work? According to estimates, somewhere near $3,000 for collectors. For the casual viewer, the price is dearer. In the America these viewers know, there are no large circles floating in the air, and life doesn’t come in triangular packages. Very rarely will someone be seen almost parallel to a trampoline, and a door floating in the air and leading to nowhere isn’t seen in most neighborhoods.
The result can be devastating, as the viewer who lives in a home that looks so close to that captured by Parker wonders if that is all. Has life been reduced to a nice house in a nice neighborhood with a three-car garage and cars to go in all of them? Is there any passion left to be found and cultivated? If so, is this passion constructive and can it be loved and nourished to grow stronger and more prevalent? When the answer is no, depression ensues. But that’s not always the answer. When a viewer can find passion in his or her life that is couched comfortably in the suburbs, the viewer is elated. Given a new purpose. Reminded that life does not consist of a home or an automobile, but of passion, compassion, and integrity.
Trackback(0)
TrackBack URI for this entryComments (0)
Subscribe to this comment's feedWrite comment
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
-
Andres Serrano: If you Can’t Say Something Nice Relishing in the grotesque and offensive, Andres Serrano challenges the world to remember what mama always said. When Andres Serrano entered the art world, it was with a bang. Thanks to his 1987 photograph...
-
The healthful spoils of war At the dawn of the 20th century, as Europe endured the 1st World War, a young German quietly went about his business, leading a fitness program on the Isle of Man in the midst of the Irish Sea....
-
The Problem with Picasso Whether a student of his work for decades or minutes, everyone who approaches the paintings of Pablo Picasso is left with the same dilemma. Alongside Michael Jackson, Michael Jordon, and Mickey...
-
Undiscovered Wine Country – Mendoza, Argentina When most people think wine, they think of California’s Napa Valley and the wine regions of Tuscany in Italy or Burgundy in France. But these destinations don’t have a monopoly on the...
-
The celebrity carpenter from the south Armed with carpentry skills, a bull-horn and a hefty dose of ADHD, Gary "Ty" Pennington has become a reality television star and in the process improved hundreds of lives through his altruistic architecture....
- 1
- 2
- 3
