Joyce Parcher

With her roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and West Virginia followed by an academic and artistic life in New York, Joyce Parcher has long been shaped by the contradictory differences impacting her world. As a professional with years of experience as a social worker, she was constantly reminded of the conflicts affecting the world as she knew it. A lifelong sketcher, then full time painter, these influences appeared repeatedly as figurative paintings with an emphasis on emotional, high-energy strokes and movement. Over the course of 25 years of bi-annual gallery shows featuring new work, Parcher’s style gradually became noticeably more abstract. In spring 2024 while painting at the Victor D’Amico Institute of Art in Amagansett, NY, Joyce’s canvas was suddenly taken over by a swarm of playful creatures reminiscent of the characters in the comic books she read as a child.  At once menacing, happy-go-lucky and lovable, what was also new was the creatures’ increasingly disruptive and confusing nature, not unlike the state of the world today.  

"For many years, my primary subject was the human figure often painted in colors influenced by current events. At some point, abstraction entered my work in what was to become a transitional period when last Spring something dramatically different happened: An array of imaginary creatures in dazzling bright colors took over my canvas.

 

The creatures are not pretty but they are appealing. Unlike much of my older work, these vibrant creatures may have been inspired by my childhood love of the comic books my father sold in his candy store. Although the creatures are not pretty in the conventional sense, I was intrigued by them. I questioned if they were art, but they seemed to excite me and I felt compelled to explore them further.

 

It felt like a collaboration. I opened up my canvas to let the creatures out and as they emerged, they inspired me to get to know them more and more. The result is a more inventive organic flow and I find myself creating a unique new creature on each fresh canvas." - Joyce Parcher