Erik Parker, Future Forecast, 2022; Hand-Embellished, Signed, and Numbered Limited Edition Print

Brooklyn-based artist Erik Parker’s loaded compositions overflow with a breadth of references that intensify today’s familiar feeling of ocular bombardment by a constant cacophony of visual media. Whether through the lens of politics, cable news, or other mediums, Parker’s work engages with the malaise of contemporary society and pressing survival issues such as global warming. The artist balances the sharpness and disorder of his hard-edged subject matter and vibrant, geometric patterns with the softness of imagined beaches and landscapes in a brilliant range of colors. Such a dichotomy highlights the lush escapism of pastoral or ocean scenes with the constant threat of climate change—turning places of reprieve into chaos.

Future Forecast engages pictorial framing and the tradition of still lifes, many composed of scenes looking out of windows, Parker multiplies the form—showing scenes within a scene. Framed between teal curtains on a checkerboard surface, is a technicolor, analog television with red antennas reaching toward the top corners of the canvas. On the television, with alienesque dials in red, blues and yellows, is a pool with a beach ball floating on the surface, pink palm trees in the foreground arc over the scene, silhouetted by the bright yellow sky—an artificial, idyllic image mediated by the screen. Beyond the television is a natural reality, a rainy night scene, in a deep blue with streaks of white marking the rain against the glass and shadows of waving leaves sweep in the wind. The artist has hand-embellished the beach ball on each print with colored pencil, making each a unique work.

“Having the ability to swim is a critical skill that many take for granted. Having taught swimming in the past, it’s extremely gratifying to see the confidence and joy that swimming can bring to so many children,” says Parker on the collaboration. “I’m glad to support the Rising Tide Effect because swimming opens an entire world of possibility and exploration that would otherwise be unattainable out of fear or danger. I could not imagine going through life without knowing how to swim, and am proud to be able to do what I can to make sure others can too.”

ART FOR CHANGE will donate a portion of proceeds from each print sold to Rising Tide Effect in support of the organization’s swimming programs. As in all series, artists will receive 50% of the net proceeds of print sales.

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*Unframed prints ship within 1-3 weeks.
*Framed prints ship within 3-6 weeks.