My recent work is influenced by moments of failure or stress in electronic communications and in turn the historic failures they echo – unmoderated and contradictory archives, computer generated spam e-mails, spellcheck errors and crude bank logos from phishing scams, amongst other phenomena. These are coupled and compared with research and writing on the confidence trick in late-19th and early 20th century America, historical ideas of spectrality, and the philosophy of human/computer interaction.
In much of the work there is a strong and recurring interest in the visual systems for depicting and distributing ‘text’. I often uses materials and forms (typeset print, neon, newsprint) that were staples of an earlier moment in conceptual art history, but match them to a current cultural phase dominated by electronic transactions and forms. Contemporary media such as digital photography, digital video and 3D animation programs are used too – always with a critical approach to the new visual conventions they imply or inherit from earlier forms.
Major projects include commissions by the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Compton Verney, Centre for the Understanding of the Built Environment, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Henry Moore Institute and Tate Liverpool amongst others. My work has been shown throughout the UK, Europe and USA in both solo and group shows, performances and talks, as well as featuring in public and private collections worldwide.
For a fuller resumé, including curatorial and critical practice, contact the address below.
This site runs in parallel to the website www.grahamparker.info – it contains details about Graham Parker’s artworks and projects
gp at grahamparker dot info
