"Michael Parkes (born in 1944) is American. He studied graphic art and painting at the University of Kansas & then travelled for three years throughout Asia and Europe. In 1975 he settled definitely in Spain, where he still lives. Numerous international exhibitions underline the importance of Parkes' work. What is unusual about Parkes is that in his paintings and lithos, metaphysical and spiritual elements are joined to reality. His work evokes a mysterious atmosphere which can often only be deciphered with the help of ancient mythology and eastern philosophy. His real strength lies in the totality of the composition as image, from the compositional in the narrow sense, which he has mastered as have few others, to the figurative construction of his phantasmagoria, complete with colour & light, space & material expression, even when this has a mainly immaterial & unearthly character. In this fantasy world of Parkes the laws of earthly reality are abolished, & space & time enter into their own "motionless" communion." Oversize coffee size table book.
