An untamed imagination

To take a walk on the wild side with alchemical artist Parks Reece is to tumble down a rabbit hole into a mystical Montana where grizzlies fly-fish for humans and numinous rainbow trout big as 747s soar over midnight mountains.

Surreal and playful, Reece’s “refined caveman” style relies heavily on the juxtaposition of title and image for its punch. “Noah Shark” flies across a starry sky with a payload of tiny animals perched two-by-two on its fins. A humongous pig looms over midget men in “Jurassic Pork.” In “Bear Tools” a mammoth grizzly with two beavers tucked under his arms solemnly approaches a tree where a tiny, terrified person clings.

Invariably, the tables are turned on us humans in Reece’s painted wilderness. Trained as a fine artist, he gleefully dances on a razor’s edge between art and kitsch, tweaking our notions of reality with wit and beguiling us with mystery.

-- Susan Dworski