ARTIST'S BIO


Shelley Parriott has degrees from The Rhode Island School of Design (BFA) and Boston University (MFA). Her work has been exhibited and collected in her native New York City, throughout the Hudson Valley (New York), the USA and Europe. She has received numerous honors and awards including: New York Meets Berlin, a three-artist invitational, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany (US Embassy, Berlin Travel Grant); and the Medici Prize, Lorenzo il Magnifico Sculpture Medallion, Biennale Internazionale dell’ Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy (International jury including Barbara Rose and John T. Spike). Her solo exhibition of multiple large-scale sculptural installations inaugurated the ‘Plein Air’ Gallery at The Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, Florida, where radiant ‘Color Fields’ were inspired by the luminous Florida sky. Parriott was represented at the 2022 Venice Biennale, Italy. 

Color Field Sculpture® Installations

MULTIDIMENSIONAL EXPERIENCES OF COLOR / LIGHT / SPACE


"Interesting and engaging, elegant and vibrant - these innovative transparencies transform space and put on a show."


The site-specific installations are composed of individual units of perforated heavy-gauge industrial aluminum. They are structurally sound although they appear illusory. Viewers actually become participants as they can walk into and through the sculpture’s transparent overlapping layers. Moving through time and space they experience the installation from the inside looking out, or the outside looking in. They are connected to each other, to the art, to fields of color, and to nature as the environment is seen through the perforations.


Constantly changing patterns and optical illusions are discovered as sheer layers play in changing light. As light passes through the transparency of the sculpture, the atmosphere shifts; shapes that at first glance appear to be solid and corporeal now elude definition. Mysterious shimmering nuances seem to appear/disappear, and take on an airy quality not usually associated with structurally sound large-scale sculpture.


THE CONCEPT

SOLID / SHEER / INDOOR / OUTDOOR / SITE-SPECIFIC / INTERACTIVE / OPTIMISTIC / INSPIRATIONAL


Visually and conceptually, Color Field Sculpture® installations simultaneously present a dichotomy and an integration between the corporeal and the intangible – our physical and spiritual aspects. Monumental in size and visual impact, yet illusory, transparent layers play in the changing light to describe: material / immaterial, being / non - being, and the transitory nature of form.


"One can use form to describe the element in us that is free of form." - Unknown


From miniature interior wall pieces to large-scale installations, Parriott’s concept begins with our passage through existence:


“Existence is the medium through which every aspect of being is transformed.”  

Overlapping layers of experience translate into sheer sculptural layers that interact with each other, the participant, and the environment.


Bringing the community together, largest scale site-specific configurations invite viewers to enter into and move through the sculpture - transitioning through time, space, prismatic patterns of color, blended tints, and optical illusions. Transitions, transformation - we question our conditioned perceptions and what seems to be, changes.


COLOR FIELD SCULPTURE® INSTALLATIONS TRANSFORM SPACE


Perforated heavy gauge aluminum is rolled, bent or folded by powerful presses as the sculptural concept emerges.


Permanent powder coated color is electrostatically applied to all components.

In a process of welding the artist’s vision to technical necessities, industrial materials are transformed from ordinary “workaday” existence into lyrical multi-dimensional expanses that immerse the viewer in vibrant fields of color.

As light passes through the transparency of the sculpture, the atmosphere shifts; shapes that at first glance appear to be solid and corporeal now elude definition. Mysterious shimmering nuances seem to appear/disappear, and take on an airy quality not usually associated with structurally sound large-scale sculpture.


Created in any size, shape or palette, indoors or out, suspended or anchored, varying hues enhance public spaces, interiors, landscapes, cityscapes, and private gardens - redefining the environment into a canvas of unlimited dimensions bounded only by the specifics of the site.


Todd Brannon, Director of Installation Sites / Design Consultant

Todd has been an integral part of every phase of Color Field Sculpture® since its inception, from site selection through the design process to the final installation.

Color Field Sculpture® Installations and A-MAZE-ING® Public Art are trademarks of Color Field Sculpture, Inc. © 2023 Shelley Parriott & Color Field Sculpture Inc. All Rights Reserved. Site design by Sidekick Visual.