Shani K Parsons
Artist Statement
Concrete / Balloons is both an artist book and wall-based work, featuring concrete text/textures embedded within and applied to one side of the paper, and a series of colourful balloons photographed by the artist and applied to the other. Playful and poetic, the work’s form and concept emerged from the artist’s exploration of the handmade flax paper’s physical qualities (weight, translucency, texture, colour, surface), and responsiveness to various processes (layering, folding, application of heat, oil, encaustic wax, and image transfer using inkjet prints).
Shani K Parsons, Concrete | Balloons, flax paper, inkjet prints on matte coated paper, inkjet image transfers, mineral oil, encaustic wax, 5.5 inches folded as artist’ book, or 10 x 20 inches opened as two-sided, variable edition of 7
Bio
Since the mid-90s, Shani K Parsons has pursued a multidisciplinary practice focused initially on architecture and urban planning, then installation and graphic design, and most recently research, writing, curation, and collaboration. In the process she has produced an eclectic body of work ranging from intimate artist’s books to immersive exhibitions for venues including the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Rhode Island School of Design, the Museum of Chinese in America, and Mixed Greens, a contemporary art gallery in Chelsea. After nearly a decade of living and working in New York, Shani moved to Toronto, where she is building a new space for curatorial and artistic inquiry and practice in TYPOLOGY.
