Jonathan Parsons

About

One would imagine that coming from Goldsmiths' YBA generation that Parsons is firmly rooted in the conceptual rhetoric emerging from that school, so it is a particular pleasure to discover his consummately technical drawings and paintings in which he give more than a passing nod to the seductive qualities that make painting so enduring, “One might ask why use a technique employed by medieval craftsmen — paint? Simply because nothing else is both real in and of itself and the means by which one can duplicate [the illusion] reality¨ and indeed it is so, one is reminded that the lavish food on a wealthy Dutch merchant's table, the intricate embroidery and gossamer veil over a Renaissance duchess, are all simply the expert manipulation of paint.