Ray Allen Parker

Fayetteville, AR

Ray Allen Parker was born in San Diego and grew up in U.S. Navy towns from California to Florida to Hawaii and Washington before the family finally settled in rural Egypt, Arkansas. He earned a B.A. and an M.A. in English from the University of Arkansas, where he took his first painting class. Following a three-decade career in retail communications and advertising, Ray returned to art and his lifelong interest in painting. Through large-scale works that strive to be both old masterly and contemporary, he explores the complex topography of the human face and figure. With their intimate scrutiny of surface and self, these works draw us close to their subjects, much closer than we might normally care to be. In this way, his portraits reward our slow looking. The impact of these paintings is to demand our attention, to connect us to others and to reveal new insights about our all-too-human selves. Ray lives and works in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with his wife Mary Jean.

Artist Website

rayparkerart.com