Miranda Parkes

Working in the expanded field of contemporary painting, Miranda Parkes explores the languages of abstraction while making dynamic work that is not bound to its conventions. Parkes makes objects that walk a line between painting and sculpture, are contingent on their environment, inclusive and engaged with the real world. The video works are “like photographs thick with time”; one-take meditations on found incidents in the everyday environment that play on formal elements. In contrast to her unruly paintings, Parkes videos are light, yet compelling and lend a poetic element to her practice as a whole.

Parkes has been practicing fulltime as an artist since graduating with a MFA (Distinction) in painting from the University of Canterbury in 2005. She has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and abroad, with recent solo shows including Boomer at Peloton Gallery, Sydney (2012), Smasher at Antoinette Godkin Gallery in Auckland (2011) and Cracker at Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch (2010). Her work is represented in significant public and private collections in New Zealand, Australia, the U.K and U.S.A. Parkes was the Tylee Cottage Fellow, Whanganui (2009) and William Hodges Fellow, Southland (2007). She has a major public exhibition coming up in 2012 at The Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui.

Selected Exhibitions
2015 Stargazer, Yuill/Crowley, Sydney, (Australia)

2014 
Trailblazer, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
Go-getter, Antoinette Godkin Gallery, Auckland
Jam-packer, University of Canterbury, Christchurch
Whopper, Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga

2013 Shebang, Sergeant Gallery, Whanganui/Pataka, Porirua

2012 
Holy Roller, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
Nice to Meet You, Dog Park Art Project Space, Christchurch
Boomer, Peloton Gallery at Sydney College of Arts, Sydney, (Australia)

2011 Smasher, Antoinette Godkin Gallery, Auckland

2010 
Mettler, Temple Gallery, Dunedin
Cracker, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch