Catherine Parra is a French artist who lives and works in Barcelona…
One day, she was amazed to discover a gigantic work representing a sheet of notebook paper, with its calligraphic lines covered in erasures. The monumental nature of the object, the words and the corrections, visible but accepted errors, inspired her first canvases.
Her style, at the crossroads of lyrical abstraction, art brut and expressionism, is inspired by Miro, Le Corbusier, the design and colors of the 60s and 70s, Africa, the gaiety of Batik prints, textile fashion, the retro of a Hermès red…
The emphasis is on the narrative aspect of intimacy, on exploring the strangeness of the everyday, Catherine monumentalizes it, stripping it of its meaning. Lines are supple, ethnic, primitive, without associative reference to any objectual model. Shapes are purified, detached from the background and defined without any spatial indication or perspective. The geometry of volumes is balanced in the construction of codified space, with a play of subtle, humorous reminders of color and form. The chromatic range vibrates thanks to the pre-eminence of colors, their intrinsic force; they are frank, retro, explosive and complementary, burning like Africa, contrasted by an omnipresent and brutal black. Together, they release harmony, coherence and rhythm onto the canvas in an instinctive, primal movement, projecting us into a joyous, generous, organic and vital universe.
The tracing technique, in the form of ribbon stencilling, is specific to the whole of her work, reserving surprises, imperfections and irreproducible errors, expected and intended by the artist. The support is a large-format, thick, washed linen canvas, a lively, worked material that brings great luminosity to the colors and connects the artist with her origins in the textile industry, with her passion for materials.
Catherine explores the representation of the mechanisms of the mind, focusing on the intellectual operations of the unconscious. The result is a writing of her emotional state at a given moment, a second state during which the unconscious materializes on canvas. As she paints, the artist experiences the total spontaneity of creation through the power of the unconscious. She projects onto her canvas a poetic language that expresses joy, freedom, gentleness, humor, generosity… a language that enables her to establish a dialogue about our doubts, certainties or frustrations, but also to tackle more universal themes, such as resilience, heritage and immortality.
Good to know :

The artists are open to the creation of original works on order so do not hesitate to contact us for any project.
Coming soon :
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Affordable Art Fair Battersea
Fair From 12th to 16th March 2025