erin parsch

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Parsch's art, although mostly non-representational, reflects patterns seen in the natural world, as well as in movement, dance, and even the distinctive forms of music. Sometimes raw and immediate, the work challenges the distinction made by Edith Wharton between the “fixed and formal lines of art” and “the shifting and irregular lines of nature”. Many of these paintings have been conceived as parts of various series, some inspired by phenomena such as “Extremophiles” – organisms that must survive under extreme natural conditions, “Field Rust” – subtle deposits and layers of industry and nature, and "Night Paving” – the dramatic scene of highway construction at night with its unnerving confluence of extreme spotlights, steam, and smoke.

Painting materials range from traditional oil and acrylic media on canvas and fiberglass to found objects and scavenged scraps: discarded drywall and insulation, scrim and screens. The paint is applied with with brush, paintstik, razors, cans, tiles, rulers, twigs, wire, sponge and glass. This is epitomized by a recent work on canvas board, “Minerals 1,” executed entirely with colors dug from the ground and extracted from plant leaves found around Racquet Lake in the Adirondacks.Complexity is cloaked in deceptive simplicity; movement trumps stasis; ultimate unity is preserved.