April 4th, 2018

By Eileen Treasure, Fine Art Consultant

With a beautiful new series of work catching eyes in the gallery, we have often been asked this question!

One definition of a flitch is a longitudinal cut from a trunk of a tree. To the Santa Barbara artist, R. Nelson Parrish, this natural form has inspired another idea — hanging sculpture layered with jewel-toned colors and encased in resin — voila! Each magnificent work is inspired by a particular time and place, and is meant to transport you to that area: a dare-devil hike in Zion’s landing, a high-mountain alpine lake, a softly glowing sunrise over the Wasatch mountains.

Parrish procures these first-cuts off milled logs before they are chipped or processed. They come from various species of California trees. He removes cross-sections of the flitch and replaces them with solid cast resin. This process alone took the artist over twelve months to decipher, and we love the results: pieces of sky and water appear to float within the wooden areas of the sculpture. We see glowing soft tones of color set against the wood and painted details.

 

The pieces are relatively light-weight and easy to install (hardware included). A wonderful installation idea is to hang the sculpture in frotn of a window, perhaps in your entryway. Other ideas are in an alcove or corner or your home, or even in a sculpture niche. No matter where you place these pieces, you will trnasported to the location inspired by the work.

Visit Gallery MAR for more fresh and bold artwork from over 30 artists.