Santiago Parra was born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1986. Known for his large, abstract and highly expressive black and white paintings, his canvases capture the suspended flatness of the calligraphy-like imagery, harmonizing two seemingly incompatible aesthetic moments, spontaneity and pondering, which are all shaped by movement, strength, gravity and skill of the Columbian artist’s creative process. He explores the expressive possibilities of the quintessential abstract form. With an audacious manner he redefines abstract structures with bold sculptural brushstrokes. His work is both an aesthetic exploration and a questioning of the essence of abstract image making.
Santiago Parra’s paintings feature bold, expressive black linework reminiscent of Franz Kline’s canvases and Richard Serra’s charcoal drawings. In his large-scale monochromes, Parra takes inspiration from both Abstract Expressionism at large and the flat linearity of calligraphy. The artist studied at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Parra has exhibited in London, Bogotá, Santiago, Miami, and Lisbon, among other cities. His work belongs in the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Tanya C. Brillembourg Collection, the Solita Mishaan Collection, the Kehinde Wiley Collection, the Cesar Gaviria Collection, and the Collection Lazaro.
He studied Literature at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, followed by an art education at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá and later at the Academy of Art University to study Fine Arts in San Francisco where he also learnt about Motion Pictures and Television.