Patricia Zinsmeister Parker
New York, 547 West 27th Street
Zinsmeister Parker has been exhibiting paintings and prints over the last five decades creating an artistic vocabulary unique to her vision. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio and attending the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Art on a scholarship during her high school years served as a seminal experience and a profound introduction to the world of ART.
While attending Kent State University in the mid 70’s, she began drawing with her untrained hand as a result of wanting to find another option to the refined, traditional approach to making art which was the current trend during this period. Using her left, untrained hand led directly into the subconscious mind where images were distorted, awkward, and definitely a rejection of the standards of ‘’good taste’’. This style of painting became known as ‘’Bad Painting’’ (an ironic term for good painting) and was codified by a major exhibition in 1978 at The New Museum, NYC, curated by Marcia Tucker.
The paintings on view are examples of Zinsmeister Parker’s versatility. She demonstrates technical skills which are evident in the female figures and then surprises the viewer with powerful abstractions. The contrast is both dynamic and whimsical. The ‘’titles’’ are sardonic and funny—they audaciously tempt the audience to either accept or reject them, either way the titles sometimes remain in the memory vortex while the imagery fades.
She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994 by the Senate of the State of Ohio for contributions and achievements in the field of Art. During this time frame, she was a founding member of the organization, Artists Archives of the Western Reserve whose mission is to preserve representative bodies of work created by Ohio visual artists. As the only group in the country with archival capacity to store artwork, AAWR has grown into a viable source of support for the local art community.
