In the show, Parra's 14 abstract pieces accomplish the ideal of Automatic Painting; authentically expressing himself in that precise moment and eliminating deliberation, composition and image construction in favour of pure impulse, speed and the energy of a single, honest brushstroke, which is never retouched.
Before his art education at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Parra studied Literature at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and this is evident in the writerly elements of his calligraphy-like imagery.
Accordingly, Parra only paints in black and white, because he is interested in movement, and the black acrylic acts like copy in a book, recording the form of the sculptural brushstrokes on his large, white canvases in the simplest colours the eye can read. He explained: "My painting is close to writing, and is closer to Automatic Writing. When I studied Surrealism in writing, the ideal was to truly write without any filters or limitations.
