The Long View: Artist Randolph Parker’s unwavering vision
Profile by Shelagh Plunkett (page 5)
The complexity of the natural world has fascinated Parker for as long as he can remember. He recalls childhood fishing trips with his father during which Parker says he would rhapsodize on the way the sky was lit. “After fifteen minutes of talking about how things work, marvelling at the sky, I get the answer: We’re here to fish.” Though Parker’s father may not have been sidetracked, his son’s paintings do exactly that to the viewer. They lead into a world of Parker’s creation and bring the viewer to see and appreciate nature’s complexities. That, says Parker, is not his goal; it is simply what he does.
But “nature” in Parker’s painted world includes neither animals nor marks of human intervention. These are pure landscapes: there are no barns, no ferries, no roads or power lines, no planes, trains or automobiles in the imagined landscapes of Randolph Parker. If these were, he explains, the viewer would be captivated and distracted by those details. They might then not carry on in their journey through the landscape. Such details, says Parker, can inspire nostalgia. “I do not believe nostalgia has any place in a work of art. There piece should stand alone. Nostalgia is just a way to sell something.”
Though they lack such comforting marks, such easy stop-offs on the journey, Parker’s paintings do not present cold or frightening views. Inspiring, awesome, majestic and inviting, they are never empty, despite the lack of habitation. These views hold the gaze indefinitely and, at their best, encourage an almost endless journey through the landscapes they present.
Randolph Parker has solo exhibitions opening April 9 at the Masters Gallery in Calgary and on April 10 at Mayberry Fine Art Gallery in Winnipeg. He is also represented by the BAU-XI Gallery in Vancouver.
Though she’s never climbed a mountain like it, Shelagh Plunkett has walked the slopes seen in Ethereal Mountain Light dozens of times.
