UNVEILING OF JOSE PARLA'S NEW MURAL AT BARCLAYS CENTER

WHAT: The unveiling of José Parlá’s new, site-specific work for Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Commissioned for inside the EmblemHealth Dean Entrance and visible from the street, the 70-long-foot mural Diary of Brooklyn captures the energy and vitality of the borough. The work of art was inspired by the book Brooklyn Is by James Agee, the artist’s personal experiences of living in Brooklyn, watching Barclays Center being built, and the continued transformation of the borough.

WHEN: TOMORROW, Wednesday, January 9, 2013, 5-6 PM.

WHERE: Barclays Center, EmblemHealth Dean Entrance, Dean Street between Flatbush
and 6th avenues.

WHO: José Parlá, who will be available for interviews and photographs.

About José Parlá

José Parlá is a contemporary artists who lives and works in Brooklyn. He studied painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia and at The New World School of the Arts in Miami. Parlá's works have appeared in major exhibitions in London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Paris and is in the permanent collection of The British Museum, London, UK, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Concord Project, City of Toronto, Canada, and Barclays Center.

About Barclays Center Art Commissions

As Barclays Center creates a new crossroads for Brooklyn, it is also defining a new model for the role that sports and entertainment arenas can play in the life of their communities. One component of this is a series of newly commissioned visual arts projects inspired by the creative energy of the borough and installations that celebrate the lives of the people in Brooklyn. The initiative will grow over time, with new commissions and projects throughout Barclays Center to be announced in the coming months.

The inaugural projects include a 110-foot-long mural by Brooklyn-based artist Mickalene Thomas that combines photo collage and painting to depict the Brooklyn cityscape, and two works by OpenEndedGroup, a collaborative of three digital artists—Marc Downie, Shelley Eshkar, and Paul Kaiser. OpenEndedGroup’s first project, After Ghost Catching, has been displayed on the Oculus and is an adaptation of its collaboration with dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones. For its second piece, to be presented in spring 2013, OpenEndedGroup will take to the streets of Brooklyn to capture 3-D images of a day in the life of the borough. The resulting work, entitled All Day, will present a kaleidoscopic look at the childhood games—from pick-up basketball to tag—on Brooklyn’s playgrounds, streets, and stoops.