The present lot delights in Steven Parrino’s characteristic deconstruction of the painted surface. Removing art from the flatness of the wall, Parrino’s “misshaped paintings” reflect his subculture lifestyle. His colors mimic the chrome of Harley-Davidson motorcycles and guitar amplifiers, while his scrupulously mauled canvases channel the rebellion of Punk culture as well as the restraint of Minimalism.
For Steven Parrino, the making of art in New York was—like life in the city itself—an unremitting, unsentimental negotiation between production and destruction. Taking as many cues from Warhol as he did from experimental music, this post-painter wrenched canvases off their stretchers, twisting them into glossy vortexes, and pummeled smooth sheetrock panels with a sledgehammer. What’s most American in Parrino’s work are its automatic procedures, its blackouts, and its conceptual relationship with B-horror movies, underground comics, and noise. J. Kelsey, “Steven Parrino,” Artforum, January 2006, p. 116