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Artworks
Betty ParsonsBrick in the Sky, 1968Acrylic on linen39.50h x 30w in (100.33h x 76.2w cm)BP100$ 70,000Betty Parsons’ adeptness as a colorist and affinity for thinly painted canvases is apparent in larger abstract paintings like Brick in the Sky, the scale of which the artist determined was “out of a desire to get a feeling of an expanding world.” The title of this piece refers to its color palette of cerulean and brick red and gives the viewer a sense of place that remained integral to her practice since her training as a landscape painter. Parsons’ aesthetic is distinguished by a particular brand of abstraction, never hard-edged, not exactly gestural or biomorphic, but always colorful, playful, bold, and expressive. She explained that her motivation in the studio was a desire to capture “the invisible presence,” a phrase she coined in 1977, which was indicative of her interest in mysticism related to indigenous American art.
