Talent Dustin Parker Arts

Channels:

Art, Design, and Film

Genres:

Abstract, Artistic, Collage, Digital Art, Figurative, Guerrilla Art, Mixed Media, Political, Pop Art, Portrait, Realism, Video Art

Specialties:

create and destroy

Dustin Parker is an award winning painter, graphic designer, and video artist living and working in Wichita, KS. In seven years of professional work he has participated in over 60 group exhibitions and 9 solo exhibitions in the United States, Canada, and Japan.

Parker is also the founder and editor of Proteus Mag, an online art magazine.

Artist Statement (about digital work)

I earn my bread and butter working as a graphic designer. At some point my experience as a commercial artist began to influence how I approached the process of producing a painting. Eventually, this experience lead me to begin experimenting with constructing a "painting" using a computer. I wanted to explore the possibility of making expressive art with a machine. I wanted to see if it was possible to create a painting with a computer that didn't look computer generated. I wanted to create the illusion of a real painting. I wanted drips, splatters, and scratches. I wanted happy accidents. I wanted imperfection. I wanted to create a sense of spontaneity and energy.

The computer gives the artist 100% control over every single brush stroke and pixel. The computer allows you to correct mistakes. Every action can be undone or reexamined or duplicated with little effort. The artist no longer waits for the paint to dry. The artist no longer has to fear the consequences of his / her brush strokes. The computer is a time machine, allowing the artist to move forward and backward through the creative process, altering the work as they go. The computer takes away the element of "chance", the key element in all my paintings. If I throw a bucket of paint onto a canvas I can't predict how it will splatter or drip. I can only guess what type of pattern the paint will create. That is what makes painting exciting. Painting is bigger than the artist. The artist is NOT in control. The process is a collaboration between man and his materials. A battle between man and physics. Whereas a computer does nothing by take orders. So you have to find ways to create the illusion of a drip. You have to fake spontaneity. That is why most computer generated art is so cold and artificial. I want to make digital art that is organic and spontaneous and alive with emotion and energy.

I produce all of my digital paintings using a combination of Freehand and Photoshop. I use Freehand to create geometric shapes, patterns, and typographic elements, and I build up the layers of the painting using Photoshop. The process of constructing a digital painting isn't much different than the process used to create a traditional painting. I am simply using a computer in place of a brush and pigment. All of the brush strokes and textures are computer generated. On some occasions I may incorporate found images, such as blue prints, anatomical diagrams, hand written letters, or photographs.

Artist Statement (paintings)

"Every Act of creation is first an act of destruction." - Pablo Picasso

The artist doesn't create. The artist manipulates and transforms and recycles. The artist molds existing materials, ideas, stimuli, and experience into a form of self expression. My work is about the nature of duality, and the relationship between opposing forces. My work is a constant process of addition and subtraction, creation and destruction, control and chance, structure and chaos, intellect and instinct, life and death, time and decay, man and nature. My work examines the conflicts that occur between these opposite forces. This is demonstrated in the act of painting and not the product of painting. I am not concerned with the end product. I am concerned with the interaction between the artist and the materials. This is the basic principal that governs all of my work.

In my paintings you will often see a combination of controlled and chaotic elements. For example, the representational rendering of a woman's face may be obscured or abstracted by the presence of drips and splatters and geometric shapes. Large areas of the image have been removed with electric belt sanders and razor blades. Other areas are obscured with ghostly fields of drippy paint. You see the representational imagery battle with the abstract expressionistic imagery. This act of "destruction" is intended to bring back an element of chance. To give my work an element of surprise or spontaneity. I may spend several hours painstakingly rendering a portrait only to "destroy" it.

Physical Materials - Paint, brushes, hands, sticks, razor blades, paper, hammers, electric belt sanders, crayons, colored pencils, paint pens, knives, and rubber brayers.

Digital Materials - Freehand mx, Photoshop, Final Cut, Illustrator, Indesign, and After Effects.

AWARDS

2003:
Wichita Sedgwick County Arts and Humanities Council Art Awards, Individual Artist Award.

2002:
Wichita Chapter AIGA SPF, Best Illustration
Wichita Chapter AIGA Second Annual Design Contest, Best of Show
Wichita Chapter AIGA Second Annual Design Contest, Illustration Gold

PUBLICATIONS & BROADCASTS:

2007:
Fast, T. "City Culture." Women's Focus Wichita July 2007: Pages 6-7.
Head Magazine, Issue 46 Forever Young, June, 2007 | www.headmagazine.co.uk
Proteus Mag, Issue 1, April, 2007 | www.proteusmag.com

2006:
Hemans, S. (2006, December 7). Sugar Plum Fairies Land At The Firehouse. Wichita City Paper, City Paper Publishing.
Iniciativa Colectiva, Issue 1, November, 2006. | www.iniciativacolectiva.com | READ ARTICLE
Carpal Tunnel Magazine, Issue 8, October, 2006 | www.carpaltunnelmag.com | READ ARTICLE
"Mixed Messages." Look-Look Magazine, issue 6, June, 2006.
Beaudoin, J. (2006, March 30). Dustin Parker's Appetite For Destruction, Tornado Publications.

2003:
Clonts, C. (2003, December 4). Parker Ventures Out With Razor. F5, Tornado Publications.

2002:
Peirce, J. (Producer). (2002). Welcome to Wichita, Wichita, KS: Clear Channel Television.
Norman, B. (2002, September 27) Portraits Of The Artists. The Wichita Eagle, p. 24C.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2006:
KMUW Pledge Drive Exhibition, KMUW, Wichita, KS
Create & Destroy, Tangent Lab, Wichita, KS

2005:
Destruction Method, CityArts, Wichita, KS

2003:
Ockham's Razor, LineSight Gallery, Wichita, KS
Chasing Aphrodite, The Wichita Center For The Arts, Wichita, KS
The Identity Project, Hutchinson Art Center, Hutchinson, KS

2002:
Persona, The Lee Shiney Gallery, Wichita, KS
Excavation, The Riverside Perk, Wichita, KS

2001:
Destination Unknown, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS

SELECTED JURIED EXHIBITIONS:

2006:
Guerrilla Art, Art As Activism, Altered Esthetics,Minneapolis, MN

2002:
CityArts Sixth Annual Juried Exhibition, CityArts, Wichita, KS

SELECTED TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS:

2007:
The Dark Scientists: Arran Lowe + Dustin Parker, Tangent Lab, Wichita, KS

2006:
The Sugar Plum Fairies: Wade Hampton + Dustin Parker, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Memory Stain: Dustin Parker + Katie Sykes, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2007:
Red Box 3, Super Deluxe, Toyko, Japan
Said & Done, Collaborative Project Number Two, Stride Gallery, Calgary, AB, Canada
Avec Creme, Tangent Lab, Wichita, KS
The Geographical Center of a Shrinking Planet: Local Artists in the Global Age, Erman B. White Gallery, Butler Community College, ElDorado KS
The Third and Final Joe Show, Lawrence Photo, Wichita, KS
GimmeShelter, RedLetter1, Tampa Florida

2006:
Leftovers Again , Tangent Lab, Wichita, KS
Saturation Point: A Postmodern Photography Exhibit, Tangent Lab, Wichita, KS
Forever Friends, Friends University Alumni Art Show, Friends University, Riney Fine Arts Gallery, Wichita, KS
Said And Done, Antisocial Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Snap To Grid, Los Angeles Center For Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA
Guerrilla Art, Art As Activism, Altered Esthetics,Minneapolis, MN
Potluck, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Chemical Burn, Tangent Lab, Wichita, KS
Cheesecake Cover: An Exhibition-ism, Commerce Gallery, Wichita, KS
The Twist of Modern Day Savages, Gallery Lombardi, Austin, TX
Caution: Police State!, Gallery Dv8, Austin, TX
Kicking & Screaming into the 21st Century, Lawrence Photo inc., Wichita, KS

2005:
Day Of The Dead, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Art: A Community Where Each Belongs, The United Cerebral Palsy Community Centre, Pittsburg, PA
The Human Figure, The Fiber Studio, Wichita, KS
Abandoned Planet, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Collection Of Parts, Tangent Lab, Wichita, KS

2004:
Always Room For One More- The Joe Show, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Tiny Works 2004: 9X9 What's On Your Mind?, Project Gallery, Wichita, KS
Beanefit, CityArts, Wichita, KS
The Visual Pollution: The Art of War, LineSight Gallery, Wichita, KS
ART 101, CityArts, Wichita, KS
The Visual Pollution, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Logizomechanophobic, A Digital Art Exhibition, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Sweet Arts, CityArts, Wichita, KS

2003:
Day Of The Dead, CityArts, Wichita, KS
The War Against Visual Pollution, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
A Colorful Melange, E.B. White Gallery, Butler County Community College, El Dorado, KS
The Tiki Show, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Pushing All The Wrong Buttons: Digital Art Show, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Piggy Back Art Show, CityArts, Wichita, KS
High Octane, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Some-Art-Sem-Antics, Steckline Gallery, Newman University, Wichita, KS
Sweet Arts, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Son Of The Bits, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Winds Of Change: Past, Present and Future, LineSight Gallery, Wichita, KS.

2002:
Down The Line: Friends University Senior Art Show, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Day Of The Dead, City Arts, Wichita, KS
Red, The Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Ripping Off The Greeks, City Arts, Wichita, KS
Art Spree (Benefit for Three Trees), The Wichita Boathouse, Wichita, KS
Art Spree (Benefit for Three Trees), Trish Higgins Fine Art, Wichita, KS
Art's Estate Sale, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Diaspora, The Lee Shiney Gallery, Wichita, KS
Recycled Karma, CityArts, Wichita, KS
But Seriously Folks, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Art Aid 9, The Cotillion, Wichita, KS
Sweet Arts, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Progression, The Lee Shiney Gallery, Wichita, KS

2001:
Day of The Dead, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Art Relief, The Lee Shiney Gallery, Wichita, KS
Faces Of Hope Project 2001, The Wichita Boathouse, Wichita, KS

2000:
Soup Ganza, Acme Gallery, Wichita, KS
Knocking Over Mailboxes, CityArts, Wichita, KS
Progression: Paintings In Progress, Whittier Fine Arts, Friends University, Wichita, KS

SELECTED CURATED EXHIBITIONS

2005:
Abandoned Planet, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS

2003:
The War Against Visual Pollution, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS

2002:
Art's Estate Sale, Firehouse Gallery, Wichita, KS
Progression, The Lee Shiney Gallery, Wichita, KS

2000:
Progression: Paintings In Progress, Whittier Fine Arts, Wichita, KS

PUBLIC LECTURES

2005:
Art Challenge, Friends University, Wichita, Ks

2004:
SPF 16 Guest speaker, AIGA Wichita, Wichita, Ks

2003:
Artist Talk - Ockham's Razor, Linesight Gallery, Wichita, Ks

create and destroy

Abe Lincoln
Jean-Michel Basquait (AKA SAMO)
David Mack
The Smashing Pumpkins
David Bowie
Robert Rauschenberg
Jasper Johns
Andy Warhol
Dave Mckean
Chuck Close
Jenny Saville
Keith Haring
David Carson
Chuck Palahniuk
David Lynch
Charlie Kaufman
Michel Gondry
Mark Ryden
Jeff Soto
Jackson Pollock
Francis Bacon
Willem Dekooning
Tony Scherman
Lucian Freud
Frank Miller
Quentin Tarantino
Christopher Nolan
Stanley Kubrick
Darren Aronofsky
The Flaming Lips
The Pixies
Radiohead
Sonic Youth
The Famous Dead Artists (FDA - Wichita, KS)
Katie Sykes
Jesus