ROBERT AND SHANA PARKEHARRISON

BIOGRAPHIESBorn: Robert: 1968 Shan: 1964

Hometown: Robert: Fort Leonard Wood, MO Shana: Tulsa, OK

Lives and Works: Great Barrington, MA

Website: www.parkeharrison.com

Education: Robert ParkeHarrison:MFA, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque,

NM, 1994BFA, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, 1990Shana ParkeHarrison:

BFA, William Woods College, Fulton, MO, 1986

ABOUT THEM

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison are a husband and wife duo who have been

making photographs together for almost 20 years. Their work focuses on the

relationship between humans and the environment—an idea that has only

recently come to popularity with movements like the Go Green initiative and

concepts like the carbon footprint. Using photogravure, collage, and painting

techniques, the ParkeHarrisons create cinematic environments that explore

how we interact with our natural surroundings. The ParkeHarrisons' work can

be found in over 20 prestigious museum collections, and their book The

Architect's Brother was named one of the ten best photography books by the

New York Times in 2000. Recently the couple has begun working in sculpture—

large dramatic pieces that complement the dreamy qualities of their

photogravures.

GALLERIES

Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NYDavid Floria

Gallery, Aspen, COCatherine Edelman Gallery,

Chicago, IL

GALLERIES CONT.

Select Permanent Collections

Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CASan Francisco

Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CAWhitney Museum of

American Art, New York, NYNational Museum of American Art,

Washington D.C.Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MAMuseum of

Photographic Arts, San Diego, CAMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston,

TXNew York Public Library, New York, NYFogg Art Museum,

Harvard University, Cambridge, MAThe John D. & Catherine T.

MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, Il

STYLE

My photographs tell stories of loss, human

struggle, and personal exploration within landscapes

scarred by technology and over-use…. [I] strive to

metaphorically and poetically link laborious actions,

idiosyncratic rituals and strangely crude machines

into tales about our modern experience.

—Robert ParkeHarrison

STYLE

Robert ParkeHarrison is a fine art/ surrealist

photographer.  His work is a collaboration with

partner and wife, Shana.  Robert showed up on the

scene (in a big way) a little over a decade ago, with

his book “The Architect’s Brother.”  The book was

named one of ‘the Ten Best Photography Books of

the Year’ of 2000 by the New York Times, but it

probably wouldn’t be an understatement to call it

one of the ten best of the decade.

The images evoke a kind of Terry Gilliam–esque feeling, but with just a little bit

more magic and a little less color.  If Terry Gilliam took a lot Valium, I’m pretty

sure this is what it would be like to live in his mind.

There is also a certain sadness to a lot of the work.  Many of the pieces feature

one solitary man, in a black suit, taking on some seemingly impossible task.

“My photographs tell stories of loss, human struggle, and personal exploration

within landscapes scarred by technology and over-use…. [I] strive to

metaphorically and poetically link laborious actions, idiosyncratic rituals and

strangely crude machines into tales about our modern experience.”

-Robert ParkeHarrison

SUSPENTION

MOURNING CLOAK

FLYING LESSON

STOLEN SUMMER

EMULATION OF “THE LOVER”