Ice Breaker: Erik Parker

Ice Breaker is Erik Parker’s second solo exhibition at VETA by Fer Francés, holding a new body of work created specifically for this occasion. In this new project, the artist expands his distinctive visual language—rooted in Pop Art, the underground movement, and the American psychedelic subculture—into a series that is at once hallucinatory and precise. 

His still lifes introduce new spatial dynamics: bricks and their shadows defy logical light sources, producing a disorienting effect that steers the viewer into a heightened, almost psychedelic state. This exploration reflects Parker’s ongoing commitment to building an alternative pictorial architecture: one that fuses neon palettes, playful yet risky compositions, and a vocabulary of heads, hieroglyphs, landscapes, and symbols. 

Deeply inspired by the American counterculture, underground magazines, and the psychedelic aesthetics of the 1970s, Parker creates works that oscillate between idealized dreamscapes and irreverent portraits, and he transforms everyday references into layered compositions that challenge conventional readings of painting. His process involves working on multiple canvases at once, beginning with bold silhouettes, layering collaged visual languages and symbols, and culminating in saturated, fluorescent explosions of color. 

Born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1968 and raised in Texas, Erik Parker settled in New York in the late 1990s, where he studied under Peter Saul, an influential figure whose rebellious spirit continues to resonate in his practice. Parker’s art revels in the fantastical, while embedding subtle yet urgent social critiques. Environmental concerns, the absurdities of war, and the specter of violence surface amidst his vibrant worlds, revealing an artist committed to both joy and resistance. His ability to merge aesthetics, philosophies, and cultural critique situates him firmly within the global visual language shaped by pop culture, surrealist comics, and post-Bacon expressionism. 

With Ice Breaker, Parker continues to expand his artistic imagery—inviting viewers into a kaleidoscopic universe that blurs the boundaries between popular culture, counterculture, and critical reflection. 

Over the past three decades, Parker has exhibited internationally in renowned institutions including De Appel, Amsterdam (Holland), HOCA Foundation (Hong Kong), Aldrich Museum of Art, Ridgefield (US), and CAC Málaga (Spain). His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Hammer Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York (US), among many others.