The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

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July 15, 2012 to February 24, 2013 |

Erik Parker: Too Mad to Be Scared

The Aldrich’s exhibition of the work of Erik Parker focuses on his lyrical maps, which present and document a timely, poignant, and thoroughly critical overview of the obscure socio-political and economic dynamics of the United States. As he condemns the status quo and reconsiders conspiracy theories, Parker condenses his narratives in tight word clusters, engulfed by cartoony looking visceral shapes.

On occasion, he uses the template of the United States map to spell out the dynamics of the counter-culture, underground, and marginalized communities. This “finally puts them on the US map,” he explains, transforming the American territory into one of inclusion for those generally excluded and providing an alternative perspective on the country. Parker’s work is an attempt to illustrate his overall take on the most pressing issues of the day through aggressively youthful and rebellious fast-paced mark-making, compositional intensity, strident colors, and an anti-authoritarian approach to established ideologies. As Parker comments on our times and what he considers to be distortions of everyday reality, he does so through vivid spectacles filled with humor and wit, in the hope that his work will form the basis for a colorful art of resistance.

Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Curator.

Erik Parker: Too Mad to Be Scared is part of united states, a semester of solo exhibitions and artist’s projects that approach both the nature of the United States as a country and “united states” as the notion of uniting separate forms, entities, or conditions of being. Timed to coincide with the 2012 American election season, united states also includes solo exhibitions by Pedro Barbeito, Jonathan Brand, Brody Condon, Brad Kahlhamer, Brian Knep, and Hank Willis Thomas, and projects by Jane Benson, Alison Crocetta, Celeste Fichter, Erika Harrsch, Nina Katchadourian, Matthew Northridge, Risa Puno, John Stoney, Sui Jianguo, Frances Trombly, Rosemary Williams, and Jenny Yurshanksy.