Segmented realities

Based on an exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Segmented Realities compiles a group of five paintings and ten sculptural paintings by Cuban-American painter José Parlá (born 1973). Each of the works suggest fragments salvaged from urban sites that have experienced social upheaval and transformation; like his segments of walls in Havana, New York, London or the Berlin Wall, Parlá's sculptures bear witness to the waves of history inscribed on their surfaces, told in the poetic language of the city--surfaces bearing layers of marks on which ensuing generations might imagine their own manifestos and declarations of selfhood. With an essay by curator Michael Rooks, this hardcover is a gorgeous documentation of Parlá's latest project. Parlá is also known for recently completing a commissioned 90-foot mural for the lobby of One World Trade Center in New York City, a mural at the Barclays Center and also at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.