the Sculpture World of
Michael Parkes R E NA ISSA NC E COL L EC T ION
the Sculpture World of
Michael Parkes “There had always been somewhere inside of me the need to make sculpture. I thought about it for years before I finally mustered up the courage to see if I really had the makings of a sculptor. So, on my 50th birthday, with no previous experience, I located a foundry in Florence, Italy and began work on my first models. I believe birthdays are for trying new and scary things, but I had no idea what a wonderful door this birthday would open. In the beginning I would create one or two sculptures a year because I still had other commitments, mainly to painting and stone lithography. However, when my work in stone lithography came to a conclusion several years ago, my interest immediately turned to sculpture with increased intensity. It is clear now that the women and creatures I have been painting and drawing through the years have just been waiting to come to life three dimensionally. Today, a large part of my creative energy is spent on sculpture and this new brochure is an up to date view of my work. I hope you enjoy the direction things are going” —Michael Parkes
Sculpture that Defines Time – The Renaissance Collection We are excited to share Michael Parkes’ incredible new sculpture creations. Please take a moment to see how important sculpture has become in the last few years to build his legacy. MICHAEL PARKES HAS BEEN CREATING COMPELLING IMAGES FOR OVER FORTY YEARS. These works of art have been created as Paintings, Drawings and Stone Lithographs. Now he has taken some of those images as well as new ones to create beautiful sculptures. We believe these will allow him to achieve the level of success he has seen in his other original art forms. HE HAS MASTERED THE IMPOSSIBLE IN THREE YEARS. Once Michael decided that sculpture would be part of his body of work (and perhaps the most important part of his life’s work), he devoted his time and energy in creating sketches and drawings for sculpture that resulted in more than 20 sculpture images so far. His mission has been to create a sculpture collection that everyone could afford. With sculptures in various prices and sizes, he has done just that. SCULPTURES ARE CONSIDERED ORIGINAL WORKS OF ART and the perceived value of them can be higher than original paintings. Sculpture is time historic and important and is also now coming into its own as a collecting phenomenon. One of the highest amounts ever paid for a work of art at auction was for a sculpture – Walking Man by Giocometti at $104.5 million dollars. AS A COLLECTOR OF MICHAEL PARKES you have the opportunity to own a sculpture that will be and has become an important part of his legacy at the pinnacle of his brilliant career. The sculptures are beautiful, graceful, dynamic and extremely compelling. His attention to detail is unsurpassed. ENJOY THE SCULPTURE OF MICHAEL PARKES in this brochure and find out how easy it can be to take home with you. Special financing and layaway programs are available so that you can own a Michael Parkes sculpture. How exciting!
On Cover: Summer Storm, Custom Patina Half Life | 27" x 23" x 2 0" • Bronze Sculpture
Michael’s inspiration was from a quote that he likes “A Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass…it’s about learning how to dance in the rain. In Michael’s words, I wanted to create the sense of a hot summer day with a storm about to break. As children, a summer storm meant dancing in the rain and a break in the long August heat.”
Summer Storm Drawing
Angel Affair Florentine Patina One Third Life | 36" x 15" x 24" Bronze Sculpture
Years ago, while I was trapped in the Zurich airport during a huge snowstorm, I had a rather interesting experience. Because we could not get to hotels, my fellow travelers and I spent the night sleeping on the floor waiting for the storm to pass. These were primarily business men from all over Europe trying to make their connections home or to their next meeting. I saw these exhausted men, most in suits, lying like fallen soldiers in some chrome and glass battlefield. As I fell into a troubled sleep, I dreamed that all of these tired business travelers were visited by their angels that held them and gently kissed away their despair and loneliness. But, like many innocent beginnings, one kiss led to another and the “Angel Affair” idea was born. As I awoke to the announcement that flights were beginning to move again, I swore I saw the last angel reluctantly leaving her companion. Only the pink soles of her feet were visible as she flew away. She left a feather by her friend’s side, but in his rush he didn’t notice. So, without guilt, I kept it. I still have it to this day, although there are times when it becomes so transparent that I can only see its faint glow in a dark room. Was my angel there? Of course, but that is another story!
Goddess of the Hunt Custom Patina Half Life | 3 4.5" x 2 6" x 1 4" Bronze Sculpture
Goddess of the Hunt Drawing
Goddess of the Hunt Florentine Patina Half Life | 3 4.5" x 26" x 1 4" Bronze Sculpture
The realm of the gods is eternal. So hunting becomes a strange and wonderful sport. Because nothing ever dies, and there is an eternity of time to play and the hunt could last centuries in earth time. Then all of the players could trade places and the hunt would begin again.
Magic Spring Drawing She sits in quiet meditation as the first light of a spring day touches her face.
Magic Spring Florentine Patina Half Life | 21" x 25" x 13" Third Life | 15" x 1 1" x 17" Bronze Sculpture
Magic Spring Custom Patina Half Life | 21" x 25" x 13" Third Life | 15" x 1 1" x 17" Bronze Sculpture
Descending Drawing
She is descending into the chaos of a planet in the process of creating enough stability to support life. She brings an indispensable gift to this new beginning beauty. She is the Deva of Roses.
Descending Half Life | 3 4.5" x 15.5" x 26.5" Quar ter Life | 2 0" x 8" x 16" Bronze Sculpture
Startled Sky Nymph Sketch The sky nymph sees me out the corner of her eye. She is startled, but not because I caught her by surprise, but by the fact that I can see her at all. She is normally invisible to humans.
Startled Sky Nymph Half Life | 38" x 1 2" x 17" One Third Life | 30" x 13" x 16" Bronze Sculpture
The Last Lion Drawing
This is a sculpture of one of my most well known images. Because so many people were enamored with the image, I thought it would make an interesting and powerful sculpture. The message is the same as the painting’s message: After millions of years the king of beasts exists, but only a few remain. It is said that each animal species has a protective guardian. Here she is, the deva of lions, the one who has for so long nurtured them as they grew into their stature of grandeur. What do those angel-protectors do when the last of their species is gone? What must she feel? Simply put, this is my commentary on what we as humans are doing to our earth and its inhabitants.
The Last Lion Three Quar ter Life | 53" x 3 2" x 24" One Third Life | 28" x 1 4" x 1 4" Bronze Sculpture
Angel Affair – silver (gold on left) 1 2"x 17" x .25" | Bronze Bas-relief
Angel Drawing
Angel was my first sculpture that I made in 1991. She was just 18" tall. I wanted to give the feeling of her looking down from a great height. So I put her on a tall pedestal of marble. At best it was a difficult illusion to create in such a small piece. Now that we have the three quarter life size of her, the illusion is perfect. She can look down protectively on all of us.
Angel Custom Patina Three Quar ter Life | 54" x 18" x 19" Bronze Sculpture
The infinite universe is her playground, the stars are her home. As she flies the rarified space between the worlds and she thinks of him… Descending, she focuses the impressions of her journey so he might understand, Condensing her universal language into human thought. The artist sits at his easel looking out at the sea, lost in thought. She enters his room and gently touches his shoulder. For a moment he is overwhelmed by the immensity of a vision. Her gift leaves him transfixed. Then, as though it was too much to hold, the magnificent and subtle beauty of it slips away. He is left lost and confused. His brush drops to the floor. Later, she will try again. There is neither inspiration nor genius in her world, only loving patience.
The Muse Florentine Patina 2 0" x 19" x 10" Bronze Sculpture
Guardian Drawing
Guardian Custom Patina Three Quar ter Life | 54" x 18" x 18" Bronze Sculpture
She is the guardian of our Earth. There are such guardians for each of the worlds that carry Life. Some call her Mother Nature; some call her Gaia.
See No Evil Drawing
This sculpture is a playful look at the idea of good and evil. We are all familiar with the three monkeys sitting in line: They see no evil, hear no evil or speak no evil. But their impression is if one hides from evil, it does not exist. The angel opens the monkey’s eyes for him to see that good balances evil and the greatest gift is the free will to choose. But hopefully this rather weighty subject is offset by the sense of the young angel playing a game with the monkey and having fun.
See No Evil 9.5" x 25" x 5" Bronze Sculpture
Angel of August SOLD OU T 19" x 12" x 6.5" Bronze Sculpture
When I decided to start sculpture again, after a 12 year hiatus, I knew exactly where to look for my first idea - I pulled out my old sketch book from 1994 and found the sketches where I had first turned the Angel of August lithograph idea into a sculpture. There it was, all sketched out. I clearly remember why it was titled that because the stone litho was almost never completed. I had convinced my printers to stay open the first two weeks of August to squeeze in one more stone litho project. The print shop normally always closed at this time because the heat made printing almost impossible. With high humidity and heat that could melt the grease litho crayons, it was a miracle that the stone litho was ever printed. So I changed my original title from Sleeping Angel to Angel of August because she helped us through that hot summer. She deserved to be a sculpture.
Moonstruck Drawing The most challenging subjects for a sculpture are ones that have broad, esoteric or cosmological themes. The power of the new moon, and the beauty of the earth bathed in moonlight are very difficult subjects to portray in a painting, much less a sculpture. In Moonstruck, the sleeping angel represents the dappled calm of the night sky. She holds a shining moon in her hand while the North Star shimmers under her wing.
Moonstruck SOLD OU T 27.5" x 20.5" x 10" Bronze Sculpture
The large panther was originally part of a life size sculpture from the idea of the stone lithograph, The Letter. But the cat took on a life of her own as she sat in the corner of the studio while I worked on the angel figure. While still in clay, people entering the studio, would go directly to her, pat her head, and tell her how beautiful she was…hence her name, Bella. She is both protector and companion to the angel. And on her own she represents those qualities to everyone who sees her. My original choice for her color in the big sculpture was dark blue and that is why we also have Bella Blue.
Bella Blue & Bella (inset) Life Size | 32.5" x 11" x 19" Bronze Sculpture
Isabelle and Bella Life Size | 66" x 42" x 40" Bronze Sculpture
It was originally titled The Angel of Corinthia. I had envisioned an angel reading St. Paul’s famous text on love to the Corinthians. The angel is reading it for the first time and is deeply touched. Part of the quote from the Corinthians is, as if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing...
This was written twenty years ago to describe the painting. And from the painting came the idea of doing a sculpture of the same subject. The subject is a part of a fairy tale that Michael used to tell his daughter about the world of ‘the swan kingdom’. ‘In pursuit of the Unknowable, the swan princess is encouraged by the swans to fly. Until ultimately, like Castaneda’s leaping from the cliff, she will learn to shift from matter into spirit and back again as we all must do eventually. ‘ (Castaneda was a contemporary writer who lived in Mexico and the US and wrote numerous books about his life as a student of the old shamanistic traditions going back to the ancient Aztecs. At one point as an apprentice, he was told to leap off a cliff by his master. He was terrified yet followed his master’s orders, only to find out that he actually could fly.)
Night Flight SOLD OU T 20.5" x 12" x 10.5" Bronze Sculpture
Beauty in Bronze
Venus 18" x 7" x 5" Bronze Sculpture
Venus is the Roman name for the Greek goddess, Aphrodite; Generally, Venus is the goddess of love and sensuality. Venus represents the descent of divine feminine energy into the physical world. The waters of the sea can be seen as the tumultuous emotional body of humanity. She is the balance for the present distortion of aggression on earth. Her presence is of calm, knowing, patience, and love. Her tools are not the swords of the battle field but of beauty and harmony.
Beauty in Bronze
Ex Libris Custom Patina Ex Libris is my homage to the wonderful world of books and all the people who love them.
15" x 4.5" x 7" Bronze Sculpture
Beauty in Bronze
Morning Light Custom Patina 17" x 5" x 5" Bronze Sculpture
Morning Light is my tribute to the elegance and beauty of the great city of Vienna at the turn of the 20th century. It was the birth place of the Secessionist movement led by Gustav Klimt, whom I greatly admire. From this art movement and Klimt's influence, Art Deco was conceived.
Beauty in Bronze
The Letter Custom Patina and Florentine Patina (inset) 16.5" x 8" x 8" Bronze Sculpture
It was originally titled The Angel of Corinthia. I had envisioned an angel reading St. Paul’s famous text on love to the Corinthians. The angel is reading it for the first time and is deeply touched. Part of the quote from the Corinthians is, as if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing...
Last Peony Custom Patina and Florentine Patina (inset) 16.5" x 5" x 5" Bronze Sculpture
The peony in ancient Greece was the symbol for the physician of the gods. Here he stands alone as the last of his kind. The male figure in the Last Peony represents the old world of magic/medicine that came from the line of the ancient Egyptian and Greek gods. The angel brings the feminine energy to balance this power and to help the world that is slowly descending into chaos.
Black Panther White Wings Study for Sculpture
201 4
Meditation Study for Sculpture
201 4
Summer Storm Florentine Patina Half Life | 27" x 23" x 2 0" Bronze Sculpture
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