Parra

Parra Biography

An underground star in Amsterdam where kids search the streets to tear down his club posters, Parra's work is treasured by a generation of design fanatics. Living with his painter/sculptor father, Parra grew up surrounded by colours, oil paint, wood, weird looking pictures & Rubenesque paintings. Almost entirely self taught, his minimal colour palette, beautiful hand-drawn typography & esoteric character creation are reminiscent of screen printed poster designs of the 1960s & 70s.
Taking a select few commercial design jobs per year he devotes the bulk of his output to flyers, posters & identities for friends & admirers, making his work available for everyone to use, keep or discard as they wish. Beneficiaries have included skate shops Patta and Kids Love Wax, his own label The Records van Rockwell, avant garde rap artists, events, films & club nights.

[via bigactive.com]

Living with his painter/sculptor father, Parra grew up surrounded by colours, oil paint, wood, weird looking pictures & rubenesque paintings. A second influence was skateboarding. In the early nineties the skate scene was about sarcasm, post rebel feelings & sampling existing design, like a strange post pop art. A third was hip-hop - “ I was a little petty DJ back then spinning for cab fare“ sparking an early interest in cover art, still informing his aesthetic today. Music is the crux of Parra’s work, encompassing eclectic musical vibes from Donovan to Slayer. Almost entirely self taught - "A lot of looking & copying & changing & changing it again until it looked like something else & I forgot about the original," Parra is pure - The basic colour palettes (usually 2 or 3), beautiful hand-drawn typography & esoteric character creation are reminiscent of screen printed poster designs of the 1960s & 70s. If it wasn't for the subtle nudges towards modern culture, you may think he was working in the wrong century. Some of Parra's characters would feel just as at home in the ' Cat in the Hat' as they do promoting a scratching competition or on the cover of a Biz Markie record.

Until a few years ago graphic artist/ illustrator/ typographer/ designer Parra was the Amsterdam red-light district's best kept secret. Things are changing. With globally recognized work for commercial companies like Nike, Volkswagon, Zoo York, Alife, Vans, Colorblind, Footlocker, Ben & Jerry and beyond plus underground graphic work for labels like Rush Hour and Stones Throw (2007) and his own respected Rockwell Clothing line Parra is becoming recognized as one of the most distinct artists of our times. He's also increasingly being shown in cutting edge galleries. His first solo gallery show took place at London's Kemistry Gallery in 2005 with a show at Paris' Lazy Dog following in 2006 both were a huge success. In 2007 he's already had shows in Miami and Los Angeles and is now set to do his first show in New York (June 2007 at Reed Space). Parra has created all the visuals for Demon Days since it's inception in 2005. In 2007 he started designing a special ongoing series of Tarot Card designs for Demon Days events.


Limited quantities of Hella International 3/12-inch box set

Parra x Stones Throw

http://www.myspace.com/parrasoundsystem
DOWNLOAD: PARRA SOUNDSYSTEM - THE ART OF PARTYING

DOWNLOAD: PARRA SOUNDSYSTEM - FLAGE TITS 2009



Parra Art for sale

http://www.myspace.com/parrafromrockwell

http://www.rockwellclothing.com/parra/


via: !NS