SOUNDINGS: MEL PARADA & KATE FITZPATRICK

March 10 - April 11, 2020

To write is to organize a system of familiar signs in a specific order. We use this visual order to physically transpose the sounds of spoken words and to create a material repository for our thoughts, emotions, and experiences. In a written language the relationship between sounds and their visual corollaries involves an arbitrary but highly codified structure. A close examination of this structure reveals many mysteries and complexities, and is an interesting subject for artistic experimentation.

Mel Parada and Kate Fitzpatrick are each interested in the edges of written language and find expressive territory within its formal structures, glyphs, and subtext. In his prints and paintings, Parada examines the possibilities of meaning-making and attempts to disrupt the narrative aspects of communication design through visual treatments that involve the deconstruction of typography, reconfigured grid systems, scale, and color theory.

Kate Fitzpatrick’s Palimpsests: Obliterating to Reveal series explores the concept of the palimpsest, an early method of recycling surfaces for writing, in which images and text were erased, scraped or washed away to make room for new scrawl and pictures. The artist layers translucent sheets of paper featuring her distinctive lines of proto-writing; a personal rhythmic mark-making style that resembles both cursive writing and electrocardiogram-like representations of sound or vibration. The resulting works can be read as meditations on time, memory and the frequencies that exist in between feeling and understanding.

About the Artists:

Kate Fitzpatrick lives and works in Alexandria, VA and is a current MFA candidate, graduating in May 2020 from George Mason University School of Art. https://katesfitzart.com/

Mel Parada is a 2018 MFA Graphic Design alumnus of George Mason University School of Art and is currently a member of the adjunct faculty. He lives and works in Arlington. https://melparada.com/