Irregular Quadrilaterals

Talley Dunn Gallery is pleased to present Irregular Quadrilaterals, an exhibition of new paintings by Houston-based artist Aaron Parazette.  Irregular Quadrilaterals will open with a reception for the artist on Saturday, November 12 th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and will be on view in the main gallery through December 17, 2016.

Derived from the artist’s “Color Key” paintings, this series of striking shaped canvases offer different variations of four-sided forms on which the artist considers formal relationships of color, line, and shape.  Parazette creates a visual play of spatial depth and flatness through a skilled use of vibrant color combinations and geometric forms.  With the bold, diagonal lines in the painting Stranger, Parazette builds a pyramidal form with a rectangle that appears both to project out from and recede into the canvas, its pin stripes creating a paradoxical emphasis on both the painted surface and the illusion of space Inspired by the hard-edged abstraction of artists such as Frank Stella, and by the shaped supports of Ellsworth Kelly, Parazette builds his paintings meticulously by adding layer upon layer of acrylic until each plane of color is flawless, its edges accentuated with precise pin stripes.  While Parazette’s paintings respond to the tradition of geometric abstraction in American art, they also reference west coast surf culture with the popular practice of pin striping both surfboards and custom cars.

Aaron Parazette (b. 1960, Ventura, CA) grew up in California and holds an MFA in painting from Claremont Graduate University. In 1990, Parazette relocated to Houston to join the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Since 1997 he has been a Professor of Painting at the University of Houston. 

Parazette’s work has been exhibited at Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco; Marlborough Gallery, New York; the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; The Suburban, Chicago; and McClain Gallery, Houston.  In addition, Parazette’s paintings are included in numerous collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Dallas Museum of Art; The Menil Collection, Houston; the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (Houston branch); and the Neuberg Berman Collection in Los Angeles.  A recipient of a 2005 Artadia Fund for Art and Design award, Parazette has also received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1994 and was named the Texas Artist of the Year in 2012 by the Art League of Houston.