The Long View: Artist Randolph Parker’s unwavering vision
Profile by Shelagh Plunkett (page 4)
The views are stunning. These are not, however, depictions of actual places. Parker paints mythological landscapes, new territories that do not exist in the real world, those many who see his paintings think they have been to or know of the places rendered on canvas.
“I’m not painting an illustration of the view. I’m literally creating something new. The pieces themselves instil in the viewer the sense that they have been there.”
It is not realism that inspires this response from the viewers. Parker’s paintings, especially when seen full scale, do not fall into the category of realism. The pieces start off very loosely; layered washes are applied with a house-painting brush, then are worked slowly toward ever-greater detail. Despite this fine detail , however, the paint is never applied in a tight or obsessive fashion. Parker says even the tiniest strokes of his brushwork are in the manner of Chinese calligraphy, “Each stroke is inherently a brush stroke, yet represents, simultaneously, something out there.
As with a good novelist that can suspend the reader’s disbelief, Parker applies his paint so skilfully, and his painted landscapes become so completely within themselves, that the viewer simply accepts the possibility that they represent actual landscapes.
Parker uses photography to document real skies, mountains and plains that he later reflects on. Those reflections form the basis of his painted landscapes. The viewer is then taken on a visual journey through Parker’s unique worlds.
