Aaron Parazette: Surf Trip

Dunn and Brown Contemporary is pleased to announce its inaugural exhibition of dynamic new work by Houston-based artist, Aaron Parazette. Aaron Parazette’s accomplished abstract paintings have been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries throughout the United States since the early 1990`s. With nine abstract paintings employing text from a surfer lexicon, Surf Trip will open with a reception for the artist on Saturday, September 6, 2008. The exhibition will continue through October 18, 2008. The nine paintings that will be featured in Surf Trip range from 36 x 36 inches to 80 x 64 inches, with titles such as Indicator, Snake, Surf Cat, and Groovy. An avid surfer, Parazette’s paintings are heavily influenced by his origins in coastal Southern California, where he developed his ongoing passion for surfing. His recent work reveals scrambled words taken from a surfer lexicon, bright distinct colors, and meticulously sharp edges. Parazette begins constructing each painting by composing words on the computer. He selects a word which he then bends, stretches, and jumbles into a composition that often leaves the work convoluted. After composition and color are manipulated on the computer, the finished design is hand transferred onto the canvas and then painted into a strikingly flawless surface. Surrounding each letter there is a double pinstripe delicately painted around its edge. These various layers of colors create an energetic frame between foreground and background, remembering the 1960`s paintings of Frank Stella. Aaron Parazette was born in 1960 in Ventura, California. He received his M.F.A in 1990 from Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California and then moved to Houston, Texas to participate in the Glassell Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Parazette has been included in exhibitions at various prestigious museums including the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, the Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina. In 2004 he was a recipient of the Artadia Fund for Art and Dialogue Award, and in 1994 Parazette received the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Aaron Parazette will be present at the opening reception on Saturday, September 6, 2008. Dunn and Brown Contemporary is open to the public on Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 am until 5:00 pm and by appointment. Please contact Sarah Stork at the gallery or via email at sstork@dunnandbrown.com for additional information or to request visuals of the exhibition.