YUKA TSURUNO GALLERY is pleased to announce "PROSE", its first solo exhibition by New York-based artist José Parlá.

His uniquely expressive painting style, which incorporates elements of both language and writing, has been winning international acclaim. For Parlá, walls are sites where the energy, history, and culture of urban society are located, and where human memory and psychology are inscribed. His work takes its starting point from walking around the international cities where he travels, observing and documenting them in order to start a dialogue with the place. His paintings are distinguished by their all-over layered backgrounds, made up of paints and collages of found objects like posters, and rhythmically drawn calligraphic writings overlaid onto the different layers. The backgrounds in his works consist of segments of city wall interpreted and rebuilt from his own impressions of them, and the writings resemble journal or diary entries lodged within his memories, or the inspirations he obtains from these walls. Although the abstracted texts constitute an indecipherable language entirely his own, when combined with the layers of painting, they evoke a panoply of stories that unfold within our imagination.

In this exhibition, consisting of paintings on canvas and a 15 meter mural painting on canvas that Parlá made during his stay will be shown in two gallery spaces.