Erin Parsch “Phase Shifting”

M. David & Co

[Image: Erin Parsch "Phase Shifting" Blue & Silver]

This event has ended.

With her mother an accomplished painter, Parsch’s life as an artist started at an early age. Erin attended the youth performing arts school when she was 12. She then enrolled in Purchase University at the age of 17. But after a year at college, she was invited to join several dance companies, including the Erick Hawkins Company.

During this period, Parsch met several abstract artists who created works for the dance company. Some, including Motherwell, Noguchi, Bourgeois, and composer and inventor Lucia Dlugoszewski, made a profound impression at an early age. In the wake of such exposure, she realized that her passion was not limited to dancing alone, but that she also wanted to make paintings. Parsch says, “just like dance, painting can be constant change or progress or even be disruptive. What is important is to create an aesthetic experience.”

In Phase Shifting, we will be presenting works that show the inherent relationship of the performative aspect of Parsch’s practice as a dancer and painter.

To phase shift simply means that two signals are at different points of their cycle at a given point in time. This technique is used widely in physics, electronics, and medicine. Phase shifting has also been explored in music by composers such as Steve Reich and John Cage. In Parsch’s series, she has applied this concept to shapes, textures and colors.

“Melted Sand” is an experiment on phase shifting textures. By overlapping several textures at different “phases,” including sand and micas, a unique textural pattern emerges. “Eyes Closed” is an exploration on phase shifting color, specifically bronze, while “Phase Shifting 4” is an examination of shape. As the phases fall in and out of sync, unique patterns emerge.

Parsch’s work has been on display at Lincoln Center, Wooster Art Space, Lightyear Capitol Foundation, Florence Gould Hall, and the Gershwin Hotel and she has been commissioned to create paintings for the Erick Hawkins Dance Company and Manhattan School of Music. Her paintings and photographs are featured in major collections around the world including Singapore, China, Paris, and the United States. She was featured and interviewed in the 2018 edition of “Views” Baur Au Lac.