printable version of BIO

Erik Richard Parra was born and raised in suburban Texas. He attended The University of Texas at Austin where he studied painting and received a Bachelor of Fine Art. After graduation Erik moved to San Francisco, where he taught at the San Francisco Children’s Art Center. One year later he was accepted into the graduate painting department of the University of Wisconsin—Madison on fellowship.

Upon completion of his MFA he moved to Brooklyn, New York where he maintained a studio, taught art and exhibited his artwork. In his relatively young career he has exhibited in numerous places, including New York, London, Berlin, Chicago and at the Museu de Arte de Brasilia. In the Bay Area Erik's work has been exhibited at Blankspace Gallery, Johansson Projects, The Headlands Center for the Arts, Root Division, Southern Exposure and most recently at WE Artspace. Additionally Erik has lectured at universities, given artist talks, garnered residencies and awards.

For over nine years Erik has taught students of all ages, a variety of media from drawing to sculpture. He has taught at many different types of spaces & programs including teaching Color Theory as an adjunct lecturer at University of Wisconsin Madison. Erik currently collaborates with artist Jessica Laurent on art and curatorial projects as part of aptProjects. Erik has recently moved his studio back to San Francisco in order to collaborate on Fivepoints Arthouse, an artist run alternative exhibition space.



printable version of CV

Born 1975, El Paso, TX.
Works/Lives San Francisco, CA.

Education
Master of Fine Arts 2004 Studio Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Bachelor of Fine Arts 1999 Studio Art, University of Texas at Austin.

Selected Exhibitions
Solo
2010 Between Currencies- Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA.
2004 This Paradise Spell- MFA Thesis exhibit Seventh Floor Gallery, Madison, WI.

Group
2010 Small Works, Important Presence- WE Artspace, Oakland, CA.
Taste 2010: A Garden of Earthly Delights- Root Division, San Francisco, CA.
Inaugural Flat File Exhibition- Golden Parachutes, Golden Parachutes, Berlin, DE.
2009 Salon09- Matt Roberts Arts, London, UK.
Marvels of Construction- Online Exhibit at Beefmaster Gallery and Project Space http://www.beefmastermagazine.com/
Formations- Blankspace Gallery, Oakland, CA.
Front + Center – Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA. Curated by
Kimberly Johansson.
2007 Grounded- Southern Exposure San Francisco, CA. Curated by Kristan Kennedey.
2006 Works on Paper - Flux Factory, Long Island City. Queens, NY. Curated by Nick
Normal.
2006 Merely The Substitution Of One Piece Of Nonsense For Another – Hastings
College Art Gallery, Hastings, NE.
2005 Performing One Particular Function- Marsh Special Projects
Gallery, Herron School of Art and Design, Indianapolis, IN.
Point-to-Multipoint- Elsewhere Artist Collaborative, Greensboro,NC.
Corporate Bodies- Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY.
NOVA: Young Art Fair- Chicago, Ill.
16th National Drawing and Print Competitive Exhibit- Gormley Gallery, College of
Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, MD.
Seven Reasons to Leave Your House- Beverly Art Center, Chicago Ill.
Surfacing- Offbeat Gallery, Minneapolis, MN.
2004 Projekt 30- Online Exhibit at http://www.projekt30.com/main.php
Overlay- Commonwealth Gallery, Madison, WI.
The Stray Show- Chicago, Ill.
Pretty Vacant- aND GALLERY, St. Paul, MN.
2003 Fig. 03.03- DeRicci Gallery, Edgewood College, Madison, WI.
Artists/Artists: Invitational 2003- Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, Ill.
Uncouched- La Galeria de la Mision de Senecu, El Paso, TX.
Centro-Oestes Nucleo Madison- Museu de Arte de Brasilia, Brasilia, D.F. Brasil.
Paint- Citiarts Space, Madison, WI.



Awards & Honors
Second Place, El Paso Art Association Arts International Exhibit 2002.
Advanced Opportunity Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison 2001.
College of Fine Arts Dean’s List, Fall 1997, Spring 1998.

Bibliography
Sam Stander, Pick of the Week, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, vol.44, no. 43 (July
28- August 3, 2010.
Emmanuel Hapsis and Kristin Farr, Studio Invasion, KQED Arts, September 04, 2010,
http://www.kqed.org/arts/visualarts/article.jsp?essid=33244
The Daily Southtown, March 30, 2005.
The El Paso Times, July 27, 2003.
The El Paso Times, September 12, 2002.

Visiting Artist Lectures
University of Wisconsin—Madison- Madison, WI, March 22, 2010.
Portland Community College- Portland, OR, April 17, 2008.
Western University- Bellingham, WA, February 22, 2007.
Hastings College- Hastings, NE. January 9 &10, 2006.
University of Wisconsin –Stevens Point, Stevens Point Wisconsin. November 21, 2003.
DeRicci Gallery, Edgewood College, Madison, WI. September 24, 2003.
Conkling Gallery, Minnesota State University, Mankato MN. February 10, 2003.

Artist Residencies
Elswhere Artist Collaborative, Greensboro, NC. July 31 through August 31, 2005. www.elsewhereelsewhere.org

Registries & Flat File Programs
BayVAN, San Francisco, CA. http://www.bayvan.org/services.php
The Drawing Center, New York, NY. http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/
Fouladi Projects, San Francisco, CA. http://www.fouladiprojects.com/
Golden Parachutes, Berlin, DE. http://www.goldenparachutes.net/

Publications
“On Art and Water” Critical Essay on Olaffur Eliasson’s use of water as a medium,
Plastic Antinomy, Fall 2009, 14-15.
“Cosmos Deep” Critical Review of Bryson Gil’s solo exhibition,
BeefMasterMagazine www.beefmastermagazine.com , Feb. 2010.

Teaching Experience
2007 to present
Teaching Artist- San Francisco Arts Education Project, San Francisco CA.
Lead Teacher- Children’s Art Center of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.