Alan Parry profile

Born in Salford on the 31st of July 1952, Alan L. Parry has an extraordinary background, not only in the arts, but also with his travels and life explorations. Parry’s mother was a homemaker and his father was an engineer, serving time in World War II in the Scots Highlander Division, being one of the few English men to serve in that division.

Without any question, Parry was naturally drawn to the arts and reflects that he has being doing art all of his life. When asked what mediums he prefers to work with he expresses “anything to get the image right.” His mixed media work includes dramatic inks, charcoal and acrylics with textures that consist of, in some cases, ripping into the paper.

Earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts, Parry also received a Masters 1st class degree from Manchester University. Enjoying his experience at university, Parry pursued a career in the educational field, teaching and giving lectures at numerous universities. His passion for the arts brought him to teach fine art and art foundation courses for universities in Liverpool, Manchester, Salford, Bolton, and Blackburn. It was also through the university that Parry got the opportunity to travel and live in Papua New Guinea, working with the education department to document “unseen” tribes.

Parry credits his principal life altering experience to that of living amongst tribes in the rural Papua New Guinea. With over 850 indigenous languages, Papua New Guinea is one of the most diverse countries on the entire planet. “The country is also one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea,” and Parry is greatly appreciative and owes much of his inspiration to his adventure of living with the Papuans. Although Parry’s art has been a constant cycle, he recognizes major evolution after his stay in Papua New Guinea, stating “When I came back it all fell into place.”

Coming back from Papua New Guinea, Parry not only with a different way of thinking and viewing the world around him, but it also intertwined his formal art school training with what he observed amongst the tribes. Recalling a definitive moment he attributes to his art, burned into his memory, explaining that when he saw a boy aggressively putting red paint onto the nose of another tribe member, Parry thought “that is the way to paint.”

In Parry’s artwork the viewer is drawn not only to the flowing motions on the canvas, but the mysterious figures and symbols that are rich throughout his work. Themes found in his work deal with forces of nature, the cycle of life, and showing the psychological aspect.




Previous exhibitions and features:
Salford Art Gallery
Salford Artists
Salford University
Liverpool Garden Festival
Bloomsbury Gallery, London
Whitworth Gallery
Houston Square
Theatre Clwyd Gallery
Wales
Runner up (out of 700 UK artists) for Henry Moore’s Fellowship for Sculpture
Granada TV-Tony Wilson “What’s On” feature on his sculpture. 85/86

Examples of work