Shirley Parish
December 8, 2013
Tom Parish is a painter who was born in Minnesota in 1993 and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before becoming a professor at Wayne State University. Parish?s work frequently depicts Italian cityscapes in an almost playful way, rendered with soft, thick edges and a warm, pastel color palette. Though not one of the cityscape paintings that the artist has become well-known for, this portrait of Parish?s wife is done in a manner similar to them. We see the edges of the woman?s face blurring in with the background, creating a kind of soft, atmospheric effect. The skin tones are rendered with warm undercolors, creating a contrast to the sitter?s stern expression. Text by Aleksey Kondratyev