Opening Reception & Gallery Talk: Aerial Perspectives

Richard Parrish draws from his experiences as an architect to develop his landscape-based works in kilnformed glass for Aerial Perspectives, a traveling exhibition previously mounted at the Rockwell Museum in Corning, New York.

“Informed by aerial photography, the panels provide a birds-eye view of the landscape,” explains Kirsty Buchanan, Curator of Collections at The Rockwell Museum. “Fields, rivers, and crop irrigation patterns are presented in an altered spatial context, while being preserved as recognizable components of the composition. By manipulating the expected vantage point, Parrish controls our engagement with the subject matter and causes us to view the shifting topography of America from a different perspective. Parrish’s work serves as a continuation of the rich American landscape tradition.”

In the Madison Field series, naturally occurring formations are intersected and interrupted by rigid circular geometry of center-pivot irrigation. Erosion (2015) is comprised of three panels arranged vertically and shifts perspective between an aerial view and a cross-section of geological strata.