Convergence: Ryan Parker and Carlos Avendano at Crane Arts
Convergence, a show featuring Ryan Parker and Carlos Avendano, opened last week at The Project Space at Crane Arts in Northern Liberties. Both artists have collaborated on a large scale piece consisting of photographic images of urban tagging documented in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. The tags merge together in stark black and white and become encrypted scribbles capturing the fluidity of Chinese calligraphy.
Also on view are the artists’ individual works. Parker exhibits his etchings of imaginary spaces. He utilizes delicate lines to describe the planes of walls in space. His prints act as maps for some mysterious labyrinth. Parker also displays a large animation that projects the etchings in sequence. On a loop, it takes you on a never ending journey with no escape. Enlarging the scale of Parker’s prints to literally room size in the video draws the viewer inside and emphasizes the futile journey taking place. Avendano shows photographs of urban spaces along southern California’s freeway overpasses. The overpasses curve, connect and merge. The photographs are dynamic compositions full of sweeping space that focus on the monumental beauty of the highway’s structures rather than their primary function as roadways.
