Page 12 - Off-Center, On-Target: The Art of Ronald K. Parker

Master of the Art of Drawing

"You know a Ron Parker drawing when you see one. Yet, there is no single way to
characterize his work. There is no single motif, nor a single style which readily
identifies the considerable range of drawings he so skillfully produces. Variety is his
forte. Still, from Ingres to Picasso to Matisse to Miro, masters of the art of drawing
have always been able to convey complete images, ideas, and moods in nothing
more than lines of charcoal, ink, chalk, crayon, etc. which by their very essence are
minimal (not minimalist) in nature. Parker is firmly within this tradition. He draws
female torsos, e.g. sans shoulders and arms, which compel the mind's eye not only to
see what is not there, but perhaps to see what is not there exactly as Parker himself
would see it. He interweaves image and text to depict psychological states in subtle
caricature-like images which are not individual caricatures at all but portraits of
individual types. Drawing is a difficult art which few ever master. Ron Parker does just
that."

Richard J. Sclafani, Ph.D.
Art Historian
Naples, Florida