STAGES
Opening at Deitch gallery on Broome Street (and on view until November 21st), STAGES is a parade-of-stars (including Ed Ruscha, Raymond Pettibon and Catherine Opie) group show conceived in collaboration with NIKE, Lance Armstrong, and Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG organization. Proceeds from the exhibition, which first premiered in Paris and will soon be traveling to Miami Basel, go to help raise funds and awareness for cancer treatment, research and prevention. Here, we speak to New York artist José Parlá about his contribution to the project.
Aimee Walleston: In your piece for STAGES, you’ve created an abstract canvas that layers the names of 250 cancer patients until the names themselves become almost indecipherable. With this work, were you seeking to give a more personalized identity to the experience of this disease, while also pointing out its ubiquity in our lives?
José Parlá: For my untitled painting in the STAGES exhibition, I wanted to create a work using the names of cancer patients. By using the names to create a web of linear marks, I felt the viewer would be able to feel the marks rather than read the names. During the time I was making this painting, my friend Dr. Alan Berkman was in the hospital with cancer, and passed away the week as I was completing the artwork. I dedicate this painting specifically to his memory. The list of names was a mix of friends and family in my life who have passed away from, or survived, cancer. Also included are names in that the Lance Armstrong Foundation, LIVESTRONG, gave to me after I asked them for a list of cancer survivors to inspire the artwork.