In this week’s edition of Walrus TV, abstract graffiti expressionist José Parlá grants viewers an intimate peek into his Brooklyn studio, streets and neighborhood. Explaining the inspiration behind his pieces, Parlá discusses his replications of surfaces and studies the human mark left upon the deteriorating city. With a recent Sotheby’s auction selling for over fifty thousand dollars (it was estimated with a high of twelve) and an upcoming show at Ooi Botos Gallery in Hong Kong, 2009 is looking like a pretty good year for this prolific New York-based artist. Watch the interview on Walrus TV here above.

The New Grand Tour is an episodic art project featuring revolving guest artists with hyphenated cultural and geographical backgrounds. The artists and documentary crew travel together to different parts of the globe and express through art exhibitions, the subject matter of towns and cultures they visit.

The goal of The New Grand Tour in the early 21st Century is to bring together the diversified voices of artists and communities from around the world by bridging cultural divides through art and the moving image as the common grounds for communication, education, discovery, exchange, philanthropy and collaboration.

This book chronicles the travels of Suitman (aka Young Kim), Jose Parla, Romon Kimin Yang, Deanne Cheuk and Davi Russo as they embark on a journey through China and engage in a cultural exchange that impacted their life and work forever.

The book is now available from O.H.W.O.W.

Three contemporary legends, Jose Parla, Eric Haze and Natas Kaupas from Miami, NYC and LA have created a set of three limited edition T-shirts for The Standard Hotel’s three properties in those cities.

1500 of each design has been produced and are available only through The Standard’s website starting on December 8th. A limited number of t-shirts are also available at each hotel’s on-site store. Each t-shirt includes the artist’s signature next to the label, comes in a red pouch that also carries the artist’s signature and sells for $55. Also each t-shirt comes in black and in white, in both mens and womens sizes.

You can purchase the Standard Hotel Artist Collaboration T-Shirts here.

Detailed images of all three t-shirt sets follow after the jump.

In October, Jose Parla will open his first London solo show. Hosted at his UK representative, the Elms Lesters Painting Rooms. All new installations and large scale paintings are set to be included, and the gallery will complement the show with a limited edition catalog. 
Parla’s work captures his artistic progression from aerosal to mixed media artists. He tries to capture the textures and surfaces of the city. Utilizing found objects, he is able to literally bring bits of his inspiration into his pieces. Adaption / Translation will be on view from October 10 to November 8.

Jose Parla recently opened his new exhibition “Memory Documents” in Genova, Italy.
“Featuring a stunning array of new large-scale paintings featuring his signature calligraphic style— many featuring built-up layers of peeling paint and wheatpasted ephemera to mimic decaying city walls—the show was a tour de force showcase of the burgeoning young artist’s formidable skills and emerging place in the highbrow art world after a long and steady rise from his days as a graffiti artist in the streets of Miami.” Via Supertouch.
As usual the artist presents an impressive line-up of works. His type of art, is one that you have to experience live, that’s only when you realize how sophisticated the artist works. We also enjoy very much the ceramic pieces in his new show.
Have a look at some more pieces of the “Memory Documents” show after the jump.

Here is a bit of an early announcement. Artist Jose Parla will have his first UK solo exhibition towards the end of the year. Elms Lesters will be showing his work from October 2nd until November 1rst. Mark it in your calendars!

Last year the Elms Lesters Painting Room held an exhibition, Pirate Utopias, showing works by Futura and Jose Parla. Blag Magazine made a nice video recap of the exhibition including short interviews with the artists and a guest appearance by Stash as well. Check it out here below.

The José Parla exhibition in Miami for the Art Basel Miami is still going on and was an incredible success until now. Spoonfed sponsored the entire event and also created a book documenting the work of José Parla. We have done an exclusive Interview with José Parla and Al Moran of Spoonfed about the event and also previewed the book a few days ago. You can check out the feature here.
The book is now available for purchase in the Spoonfed Bodega, their online store. The book consists of over 150 pages of Jose Parla’s paintings and photography. Beautifully printed, photography by David Perez Shadi, Stefan Ruiz, and Davi Russo. Essays by Manon Slome and Michael Betancourt. A must have for any Parla fan or collector! Quantities are limited on this very special book, as the majority was produced to sell during the event.