José Parlá (b. 1973) creates paintings and multidisciplinary works inspired by his interest in hybrid forms of abstraction. His works poetically challenge concepts related to language, politics, identity, and our definitions of places and spaces. Parlá’s approach to mark-making is both physical and textural, integrating bodily gestures into a painterly stream of consciousness that features areas of addition, erasure, and layering, thereby questioning the status quo of visual culture. Parlá works across mediums blending abstraction with visual references to music, calligraphy, dance, and urban architecture. His textured, gestural compositions explore language, identity, politics, and place through a physical, layered process of mark-making. Born in Miami to Cuban parents, José Parlá studied at SCAD, the New World School of the Arts, and Miami Dade College. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.