Understanding Michael Parkes

"Take the symbolism for what it is. It is not important to understand or even agree with the symbols I use. What I do want is to offer my art to people to enjoy and enhance their lives with the beauty of colour and light."

As cited by Michael Parkes.

A remarkable quote since what we see in his work is not just a simple figment of his imagination but even so a study of the metaphysical and spiritual principles materialized in his work. His work evokes a mysterious atmosphere, which can often only be deciphered with the help of ancient mythology and eastern philosophy. His work urges us to comprehend instead of just enjoy because part of the enjoyment comes from the understanding of his work.
Of course, his craftsmanship is undeniable; his meticulous style seems sheer drudgery; a monkey's fur coat, almost every hair distinct, a ribbon thrown carelessly in the air as if it were weightless. The paint so thinly applied layer after layer that if painted in one layer it would be translucent. Thus with every stroke of his brush Parkes creates a depth that makes you get drawn into his world.

But it is not immediately his craftsmanship that makes you want to look a second time and makes you wonder. For in a way his technique is subordinate to his imagery. It's a means to an end, a mere translation to capture that what has been formed in his mind. To make the doctrine come alive in such a way that it draws people all over the world in admiration.

His focal point the female form. Sometimes vulnerable and subordinate, mostly powerful and demanding, but always beautiful and mysterious. First you see her beauty then the mystery of her surroundings. Which makes you wonder, what world it is she lives in, why she is there and where she is going. And you realize that you can't answer those questions right away but that you do want to understand. You might think you'd know more by reading the title of the work you are trying to decipher, but it seems to puzzle you exceedingly. You look again at the painting and realize you are captured into the fantasy world of Michael Parkes in which his own laws apply, where past and future do not exist, in which a never ending circle of life, death, birth and rebirth appears.

Parkes felt he needed to travel the world in order to become a complete artist and so he did. He roamed the world and discovered ancient wisdoms, gaining the level of spiritual consciousness he felt he missed to give his work meaning. With the knowledge and skills acquired, Michael Parkes enables the viewer to behold the beauty of magic captivated in his work. Capturing the complete sense of the unexpected; that what is unknown to the viewer in order to make it known, even if it can be seen only for a second.

Michael Parkes was born in 1944 in Sikeston Missouri (USA) After studying graphic art and painting at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, he taught briefly at Kent State University in Ohio and at the University of Florida. His ultimate goal was to turn his attention to creating art. A child of the hippie generation, he realized, at the age of 24, he needed to see the world in order to be a complete artist.

When he met his wife, Maria, they left the United States. After travelling through Europe, they went to India, Nepal and Pakistan, but it were the experiences he had in India, where he studied philosophy and the esoteric doctrines of the East and the West that were of great influence to his artwork. His imagery is drawn from a range of wisdoms including the cabalistic and the tantric, but embodied in forms from his own imagination which are immediately accessible.

In 1975 Michael Parkes settled definitively in Spain where he engaged in the development of his artwork and where he still lives today. Early on, he painted in the generally abstract expressionist style common among his teachers, but after his pause for reflection he began to draw and paint in a meticulous style of detailed representation which enabled him to give full expression to his inner world of images. Here strange beasts encounter mysterious winged women, good and evil fight out their immemorial conflict and in this weightless environment worlds are unmade and remade nearer to the heart's desire. Even as a student Parkes was fascinated by various graphic processes, and in recent years he has become highly proficient in the difficult medium of the colour stone lithograph.