COVID-19
The triptych is a useful format for signaling the highest of valuations. Why save it just for the symbols of Christianity? In her Cathedral series, begun in 2019, Marin County painter April Dawn Parker uses it to worship the original deity: nature. In Parker’s version, full of funky mushrooms, thick straight Redwoods, neon sunsets, dusty rose deserts and giant crystals, the West Coast is Eden. And with a style that rocks a decidedly 1970’s paint-by-number vibe, the region provides both content and form. Parker’s most recent of her three-foot-tall, six-foot-wide trios, "The Candle Being Lit," was left unattended for three months while the pandemic locked her out of her studio. But nature persists, regardless, as does art. That’s an altar we all ought to be praying at, and hard.
—Lori Waxman 2021-03-31 7:12 PM