Robert ParkeHarrison:
The Architect's Brother
Exhausted Globe, from the Series: “Exhausted Globe Suite,” 1997, photogravure print, 8" x 15"
Joyce and Edward Linde Gallery
September 18, 2004 – January 2, 2005
Opening Reception: Friday, September 17, 7 – 9 pm
The Architect’s Brother is the first one-person museum exhibition of Robert ParkeHarrison, whose work considers the state—and possible fate—of the Earth.
Robert ParkeHarrison collaborates with his wife, Shana, on the conception and execution of complex images that combine performance, sculpture, photography, and painting. Their innovative approach to picture making draws upon their use of paper negatives and collage to construct stories of loss and struggle amid landscapes scarred by technology and over-use. At the heart of these pictorial tales is a lone individual—ParkeHarrison himself as “Everyman”—engaged in Herculean struggles with nature and artifice. The mythic world he creates mirrors our world, where nature is domesticated and controlled. In actions that are both humorously metaphorical and lyrically poetic, ParkeHarrison constructs beguiling stories that make us consider what we have done or are doing to our earth.
Flying Lessons, from the Series: “Earth Elegies,” 2000, photogravure print, 20 1/8” x 17 ¾”
Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison live in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and Robert teaches in Worcester, Massachusetts, at the College of the Holy Cross.
This traveling exhibition of over forty works is organized by George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film with support from the Bulrush Foundation. The DeCordova presentation is supported by funding from the Lois and Richard England Family Foundation. The exhibition is accompanied by the 136-page book Robert ParkeHarrison: The Architect’s Brother, published by Twin Palms Publishers. During the showing at DeCordova, the film Art Close Up: Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, produced for Art Close Up by WGBH, Boston, will be shown continuously in the galleries.
Programs
Robert ParkeHarrison: The Architect’s Brother
A Conversation with Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison
Dewey Family Gallery
Thursday, October 21 at 6 pm
