Root Division Auction 2025

 I am happy to announce my participation is this fundraiser.

Thursday, October 23, 2025

HOST 6 PM | VIP 6:30 PM | EVENT 7-10 PM

Collect art, support arts education, and be inspired by artists at Root Division’s largest annual fundraising event!

We are proud to feature an eclectic mix of high quality artwork from over 160 established and emerging Bay Area artists, including plenty of shining and rising stars! The artwork is on display at Root Division’s gallery, all artwork is available for online bidding. Our Main Event will feature both a silent and a live auction (led by esteemed Bonhams Auctioneer Aaron Bastian). Check out the options to join the fun and #SupportRD below!

Proceeds directly support local artists, free art classes for Bay Area youth, and the continued success of Root Division’s unique model for keeping artists working at the heart of San Francisco.

ART FWD: 5x5x5

This is an exciting, new to me event for which I am ever so grateful to have been asked to participate. 

ART FWD: 5x5x5, is a groundbreaking exhibition featuring 155 interconnected artists. Five renowned artists — Saif Azzuz, Arleene Correa Valencia, Liam Everett, Isabella Kirkland, and Barry McGee — each selected five artists, who each chose five more. The result is a dazzling constellation of diverse artworks that together paint a portrait of Bay Area artistry and creative kinship.

For more information Click here.

Opening Night

Saturday, October 18th
5:00 - 9:30 PM | MarinMOCA, San Rafael
This is not your typical gala. No rubber-chicken dinner. No long speeches. No polite applause.

ART FWD: 5x5x5 Opening Night — where the boundaries between spectator and participant dissolve and pure creative joy reigns.

Come enjoy outstanding art, delicious food and drinks, and wild entertainment. This is art as it should be experienced: not hushed and distant but immediate, vibrant, and participatory.

Monster Drawing Rally 2025

I have said it before and I will definitely say it again, this is by far one of the most fun events in the Bay Area and it is a fundraiser! Come out and have a blast supporting a great Bay Area Institution that supports Artists.

Join Southern Exposure for the 2025 Monster Drawing Rally, the action-packed art-making event where you witness over 150 Bay Area artists at work and walk away with pieces from your favorite local artists for $100 or less.

 This year, the Monster Drawing Rally is on Saturday, October 11, 4:00–10:00 PM, at Southern Exposure. Enjoy music, drinks available for purchase, and an art-making table for kids! Online early-bird tickets are just $25. Tickets will be available at the door for $30.

For more information click here.

EVENT INFO:

What: Southern Exposure’s 2025 Monster Drawing Rally

When: Saturday, October 11, 2025, 4:00 - 10:00 PM

 Location: Southern Exposure, 3030 20th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

Peralta Colleges Faculty Exhibition

I wanted to let you know that my work will be included in the forthcoming Faculty Invitational show at The Laney College Art Gallery (aka the June Steingart Gallery). The exhibition will feature works by faculty from all 4 colleges and will open on September 4 with a reception for the artists on Wednesday September 18, 2024 from 4-6pm please join me if you are able.

From the Laney College Art Gallery Website:

“The show features work by an immensely talented group of teaching artists from the art department faculties of Berkeley City College, College of Alameda, Laney College and Merrit College. Art works include paintings, prints and ceramics.

Exhibiting artists include:

J.Braman (BCC), Mary Catherine Bassett (LC), Drew Burgess (CoA), Alex Echevarria (LC), Cynthia Horn (CoA), Carolyn Martin (BCC), Barbara Obata (MC), Erik Parra (BCC), Fan Lee Warren (LC), Minoosh Zomorodinia (LC); and introducing two new faculty Barbara Obata (MC) and Logan Wood (MC).

On view: September 4 – October 15, 2024

Gallery reception: September 18, 4-6
For more information click here.

Homebody

Still Life for Jolene I
Acrylic, marker and spray paint on panel
14in. x 11in.
2016

Homebody

REVEL IN THE REALM OF BEING

November 8, 2024 - January 3, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, November 8, 6–9 PMExhibition of 7 Artists

Mary Campbell, Greg Climer, Rachel Kaye, Erik Parra,
Rachel Stallings Thomander, Cate White, and Karla Wozniak

Gallery 16 is pleased to present a group exhibition of seven Bay Area-based artists. Homebody brings together paintings, drawings, sculptures, and quilts that, together, explore what it might mean to be home.

Home means so many things – safety, family, connection with others and with yourself. Being and feeling at home is as individual an experience as existing in a body; every person has their own ideas and practices of order and stability, comfort and belonging, sharing spaces, and exploring desires. While our inner lives and the environments we inhabit are separate things, the two inform each other. In the hands of these artists, domestic objects and spaces become stages for performances of identity, labor, and fantasy. The rituals and routines of daily life become containers for boundless imagination.

Gallery 16

501 Third Street

San Francisco, CA 94107

in the cut

This is a bit of news that I am extremely excited to announce because of my personal history of with this amazing organization. I have been granted access to their beautiful exhibition space at Minnesota Street Projects to do what I want. So I am brining my studio into the space for what I have been referring to as a hybrid residency, where I will be making work and playing around with different installation strategies.

In addition there will be two chances for community members to engage in social art making “workshops” related to the work I am currently making and there will be plenty of opportunities to see my process and to socialize. A full schedule is listed below or click through to the SFArts Education website.

From the SFArtsEd website:

“SFArtsED is thrilled to welcome artist and arts educator Erik Parra as Artist-in-Residence in the gallery, from October 5th through November 16, 2024. For this hybrid residence, Parra will be using the gallery as a studio as well as an exhibition space, simultaneously painting and exhibiting works for the public to view.”

For more information please click here.

Schedule of events:

Residency and exhibition

October 5 – November 16, 2024

Welcome reception

October 5, 4–7 PM

Collage workshop

October 12, 2–4 PM

Cloud Painting workshop

October 26, 2–4 PM

Open Studio

November 2, 4–7 PM

Closing Reception

November 9, 4–7 PM

Monster Drawing Rally 2024

It is indeed that time of year again! It is time for one of my all time favorite fundraisers, the super fun and always a good time fundraiser that supports an organization that is very near and dear to my heart Southern Exposure’s Monster Drawing Rally. I will be drawing at 7:20, come out and have fun while supporting this awesome organization!!

Southern Exposure MDR24

Saturday, October 19

5:00pm—10:00pm

@ The Lab

2948 16th Street

San Francisco, CA 94103

Pencil Magazine

I am excited to announce that my work has been selected for inclusion in the inaugural edition of Pencil Magazine! This is a gorgeous publication dedicated to work made with pencil and paper and would be a welcome addition to any collection of publications dedicated to artist’s drawings.

The magazine is 6" x 9" and has 88 pages of original artwork and writing, printed sustainably in Maine.Each copy comes with a removable dust jacket that folds out to be an 18" x 24" poster featuring artwork by Renée Gertler.

From the Pencil Website:

“Pencil Magazine is a themed print publication featuring work created entirely with graphite pencil and paper. Artists and writers are invited to respond to each publication theme through visual art, writing, or a combination of the two. The mission of Pencil Magazine is to create an opportunity for artists and writers to connect or reconnect with an unsung, basic tool for creative expression — the pencil — and to inspire our readers to make time and space for analog experiences. Research is unambiguous that our reliance on internet-enabled digital tools to communicate and consume media is negatively affecting our attention spans, ability to focus, and mental health. Pencil Magazine is an opportunity for creators and readers to reclaim their focus and connect with their creativity through analog means — by using pencil and paper.

For more information click here, to purchase a copy click here.

friend of the artist

I am very excited to share that I have been included in Volume 18 of Friend of the Artist. This is a very handsome hard bound and beautifully printed volume, filled with the work of international contemporary artists.

From the FOA website:
"Friend of The Artist is dedicated to elevating the work of emerging artists from around the world. In our printed books, we invite jurors to help us select the top emerging artists who work in a variety of mediums. Each volume showcases the diversity of aesthetics and ideas that artists are exploring.  The community we create is just as important as the book itself. By working with and interviewing artists and curators from around the world, we've forged an international community where ideas and ways of working are put on display and relationships are formed. "

For more information or to order your copy, please click here.

Oddkin

"Oddkin" Group Exhibition

May 4 - 25, 2024 

Hashimoto Contemporary SF

For more information please click here.

Hashimoto Contemporary is pleased to present Oddkin, a group exhibition celebrating the familial nature of arts in the Bay Area.

 Madison Brooks | Dennis Brown | Anjelica Colliard | Gina M. Contreras | Serena Viola Corson | Matthew Craven | Annie Duncan | James Eddy | Mary Finlayson | Maya Fuji | Mike Funkhouser | Chase Irvin | MARBIE | Christopher Martin | Alan Miknis | Austin Elfio Montanari | Erik Parra | Alexander Rohrig | Leonard Reidelbach | Sofia Shu | Lorien Stern | Ester Tuva | Ben Venom | Corrie Wille | Kristen Liu Wong | Amber Jean Young | curated by Katherine Jemima Hamilton

Opening Night Reception:

Saturday, May 4th

5pm - 7pm

Gallery Hours:

Tuesday - Saturday / 10am - 6pm

Hashimoto Contemporary SF

1275 Minnesota Street

San Francisco, CA 94107

Opening of "in this place"

Still Life for Jolene I
Acrylic, marker and spray paint on panel
14in. x 11in.
2016

I am excited to announce that I am participating in the upcoming c2c/wc show, “in this place”. If you are around for the opening on Feb. 6th come through! I would love to see you and you can see one of two paintings that I started and completed in 2016!

From the Gallery's Facebook page: "the artists "in this place" document their personal position in a landscape while creating situations that can experientially teleport a viewer into that space as well. By addressing fundamental aspects of how we experience a local environment, such as angle, color, proportions, and the depiction of content, they indicate not only their physical experience of the represented space, but also how they are engaging emotionally and intellectually with their surroundings at that moment as well.

This is true whether the work exhibited is a more traditional take on landscape, such as that from Diane Olivier or Kerry Law, or a more conceptual rendition, such as work by Andrew Prayzner or Eilish Cullen. This exhibition also includes artists Robert Minervini, Erik Parra, Chris Ballantyne and Karen Schifano who utilize an approach from a middle ground between these two extremes of practice, which effectively ties the work featured in the exhibition together into a singular comment on the nature of a material existence.

The exhibition will open with a reception on Saturday, February 6 from 6-9pm. It will run through March 6 with gallery hours on Sundays from 12-5pm. c2c project space is at 1695 18th Street #413 in San Francisco (cross streets are Carolina and Arkansas).

The Space Between

The Problem with Bleached Terracotta
16in. x 20in.
Acrylic on Panel
2019

I am very excited to share that I have been included in a group exhibition titled The Space Between at Marrow Gallery in San Francisco, CA.

From the gallery:

Marrow Gallery presents The Space Between. The exhibition features the work of Erik Parra, Hiroshi Sato and Travis Weller, three Bay Area based artists whose work is an exploration of time, the constructs of environment and the artifice of intentional metaphors. Whether representing the banal (a potted plant) or the academic (a still life) the viewer begins to understand the artists intent; a declaration that there is a connection in the seemingly disconnected. The exhibition runs from January 9th until February 9th. There will be an artists reception on Saturday, January 26th from 5-7.

If you are in San Francisco I do hope that you get a moment to see this exhibition.

As always I really appreciate your support.

-Erik Parra 

Framework: Elements of Architecture

Foyer No. 2
Acrylic, Spray Paint and Marker on Panel
14in. x 11in.
2015

I am happy to announce that I have been included in a group exhibition entitled Framework: Elements of Architecture at North Seattle College. The exhibition opens Wednesday February 1, 2017 and will run though March 17, 2017. If you are in the Seattle area, please stop by if you have time.

From the North Seattle College website:

From the beginning of time, architecture has fed the soul through ingenuity and beauty, and has also functioned simply as a roof over the head. Both capacities have inspired the artists shown here today, as they find inspiration in the sculptural qualities of a building, in the principles of construction itself, or as a stand in for the body. Essentially, these artists articulate how architecture and structure can mix. In this gallery, you will find works that cross-pollinate the building with it’s surrounding space, the past with the present, the interior with the exterior, and the impermanent with the fixed. Featured artists include: Dan Carrillo, Susan Gans, Monica Gonzalez, Kevin Haas, Myszka Lewis, Terrell Lozada, Sean Morrissey, Yoonmi Nam, Erik Parra, and Kim Van Someren.

For more information click here or here.

Thank you so much for your support.

Kindly,

Erik Parra

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Los Angeles Times Review

Day for Night
42 in. x 30 in.
Acrylic, marker and spray paint on canvas
2016

How to Build a Foghorn has been reviewed by the LA Times

I am over the moon to share this press clipping with you. Christopher Knight has been one of my favorite writers since I purchased his book of essays back in Graduate School.

From the LA Times:

Uncharted Seas in "How to Build a Foghorn" at Samuel Freeman

By Christopher Knight, Art Critic, " … Moody and dreamlike nocturnal landscapes in paintings by Erik Parra juxtapose suburban living rooms and backyard patios with vast starry skies, as if both are alien habitats ... "

For the entire essay click here.

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How to Build a Foghorn

Alongside the Noble and the Spledid
42 in. x 54 in.
Acrylic, Marker and spray paint on canvas
2016

How to Build a Foghorn

July 16- August 27
Opening Reception July 16 from 5 -8pm
Samuel Freeman Gallery
2639 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034

Greetings friends. I wanted to let you know that I have been hard at work making some new paintings and three-dimensional paintings (sculptures) that will be part of an installation I will be building, starting later this week! The dust is almost settled and then we can celebrate. I hope that you will be able to join me in LA for the opening, if not I will certainly be posting a lot of images. Please check back for more news. 

Thank you for your support, as you know, it means the world to me.

Kindly,

Erik Parra

From the Samuel Freeman website:

"Samuel Freeman presents How to Build a Foghorn, an exhibition with Mie Olise, Erik Parra, Craig Kauffman and Bridget Beck. These artists translate the hidden language of the man-made landscape through painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture. We navigate our daily passage through a subconscious negotiation where expectations are met constantly and unnoticeably, but when the fog rolls in it creates an ambiguous environment without the normal cues for location or definition. The gathered works in How to Build a Foghorn do not so much warn of impending danger as reveal a different understanding of the reality all around us. Expected constructions shape-shift into novel configurations, ships, tree houses, benches and structures, while flowers become skyscrapers who have simply forgotten that scale is a matter of perspective."

For more information please click here.

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Perpetual Sunset

Arrangement with Bunny and Striped Vase

I am happy to share that I have been invited to participate in a group exhibition titled Perpetual Sunset at 2731 Prospect Contemporary Art in Cleveland, OH. The exhibition opens this Saturday, June 17 and will run through July 30, 2016. I will also be giving an Artist talk at the gallery on Saturday July 23 at 2:00pm, so if you are going to be in Cleveland or know anyone who will be please let them know! A bit about the exhibit from the 2731 Prospect website:

“Perpetual Sunset features new work in painting and print media by Brandon Juhasz, Aaron Koehn and Erik Parra. This trio of artists are linked via their mutual interest in fabricated realities that seem to be subversively lurking in every corner of contemporary life. Their works collectively examine the odd visual and psychological slippages that occur within a swirl of glossy corporate branding, stock advertising imagery and manufactured interior spaces .…”

For more information about this exhibit please click here.

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In This Place

Still Life for Jolene I
Acrylic, marker and spray paint on panel
14in. x 11in.
2016

I am excited to announce that I am participating in the upcoming c2c/wc show, “in this place”. If you are around for the opening on Feb. 6th come through! I would love to see you and you can see one of two paintings that I started and completed in 2016!

From the Gallery's Facebook page: "the artists "in this place" document their personal position in a landscape while creating situations that can experientially teleport a viewer into that space as well. By addressing fundamental aspects of how we experience a local environment, such as angle, color, proportions, and the depiction of content, they indicate not only their physical experience of the represented space, but also how they are engaging emotionally and intellectually with their surroundings at that moment as well. This is true whether the work exhibited is a more traditional take on landscape, such as that from Diane Olivier or Kerry Law, or a more conceptual rendition, such as work by Andrew Prayzner or Eilish Cullen. This exhibition also includes artists Robert Minervini, Erik Parra, Chris Ballantyne and Karen Schifano who utilize an approach from a middle ground between these two extremes of practice, which effectively ties the work featured in the exhibition together into a singular comment on the nature of a material existence.

The exhibition will open with a reception on Saturday, February 6 from 6-9pm. It will run through March 6 with gallery hours on Sundays from 12-5pm. c2c project space is at 1695 18th Street #413 in San Francisco (cross streets are Carolina and Arkansas).

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Botanica: All Things Plant Life

Still Life with Diamond Hutch and Arrangement 3
Ink, marker and watercolor on paper
15in. x 11in.
2015

Botanica: All Things Plant Life
A National Juried Exhibition
July 12 – September 6, 2015

I am extremely excited to be participating in a group exhibition titled Botanica: All Things Plant LIfe at the Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts.

The exhibit runs from July 12 through September 6, 2015. An opening reception will be held on Sunday July 12, from 3- 5 pm, admission is $5.

Unfortunately I will miss the opening as I will be in Buffalo, but I am available for a walk through of the exhibit upon my return to San Francisco in late July. If you are interested please send me a message.

About Botanica, from the Bedford Gallery website:

“From 16th Century Flemish painters, to Cézanne and the Post Impressionists, the color and variety found in plant life, as well as the potent symbolism, has made it a popular subject for still lifes and artist studies. Botanica asks artists to draw on these themes to create artwork that explores how plant life can be represented in a diverse reach of media.”

For more information about the exhibit please click here, and for more about the Bedford Gallery please click here.

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