Parra is unmistakable but also an enigma. It’s not that he hides or even hides his characters behind a cloke of abstraction, but they are elegantly expressionless and Parra himself isn’t one for the camera. But the works are so Parra. There is mystery in it. The characters have evolved over the years but remain within a visual language but also influenced by Parra’s life in music, design, skate and fine art. They are fluidly moving through time, and in his second solo show with Alice Gallery in Brussels, Assorted Confusion finds a balance of anxiety and leisure, energy and relaxation. In a time in the world where we are looking for repose, you follow Parra’s characters as they, too, look for something more balanced, something true and real. They become part of an art historical lexicoin in their desire for something more relaxed, and maybe that is where the confusion lies; can we relax in such chaos? —Evan Pricco
