The style of Dutch artist Parra (Pieter Janssen, 1976) is recognisable, absurdist, playful and ironic. Parra’s work is characterised by modern ‘post-Pop’ drawings with vibrant colours and quirky typography. His world contains hybrid, bizarre and surreal figures – men with bird heads and voluptuous women with sensual bodies – combined with texts that range from sarcastic and introvert to ironic and ludicrous. Valued and popular among experts, Parra rapidly developed to become a well-known and creative image maker designing special editions for established brands and exhibits his art all over the world.
Distinctive and powerful
Visual language Parra began drawing his designs when he was part of the underground and skateboard scene. He experimented with all that fascinated him personally and developed an entirely unique typographic style. His illustrations, most of which consist of figurative images surrounded by black contours, have taken root in the digital era thanks to their powerful visual style. Within a few years, he went from illustrator and graphic designer to all-round artist, effortlessly combining typography and illustration with other cultural expressions such as music, fashion, animations and performances. In Parra’s work, various disciplines overlap and increasingly push the boundaries of unusual collaborations. Parra has created designs for Viktor & Rolf and the cover of Bret Easton Ellis’ book ‘De Figuranten’ (the Dutch title of ‘Imperial Bedrooms’, 2010), and has made cover illustrations for the VPRO radio, TV guide and Volkskrant Magazine.
Mural
Exclusively for this exhibition at the Kunsthal, Parra will be creating a 25 by 6 metre mural in Hall 3. Parra previously painted an enormous mural entitled ‘Weirded Out’ at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This 20-metre-long work, was nominated for the Rotterdam Design Prize in 2013.
The ‘PARRA’ exhibition highlights the diversity of his work, featuring posters and paintings on canvas in addition to flyers, book covers, album covers, sneakers and skateboards. Attention is also given to his other activities, such as the Le Le group, of which Parra is a member together with co-producer Rimer London and Faberyayo.
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