Ciclos: A Presence of Nature stands as an arresting testament to the raw beauty found within urban decay, rebirth, and human resilience. With the grit and texture of city landscapes as his muse, Parlá layers paint upon canvas, carving intricate marks and symbols that dance across the surface like fireworks in an urban night sky. These gestures are not just artistic flourishes; they are the artist’s coded script, narrating tales of survival and transformation.

Parlá’s journey is deeply personal. Born in working-class neighbourhoods of Miami and Puerto Rico, he developed an early affinity for the city’s architectural and cultural texture. Yet it was during a harrowing experience in 2021, while installing his exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, that Parlá’s artistic vision underwent a profound shift. Contracting the Delta variant of COVID-19, he entered a medically induced coma, isolated not only by the virus but by an additional threat – a rare and deadly fungus, Candida auris, spreading in hospitals at the time. Within the depths of this life-altering period, he encountered vivid, phosphene-like visions – ethereal portals through which light appeared to move, binding places and experiences in his dream state.

These visions became the foundation of his series, which he began creating even from his hospital bed. Reflecting on the works, Parlá shared: “I managed to paint a series of works on paper in the hospital, which later served as studies for my larger-scale Ciclos: Blossoms of Mold paintings. These landscapes became a cycle of thoughts and therapeutic actions that helped me return to life.” Each work is imbued with a layer of storytelling, the canvases forming a patchwork of his personal and artistic resurrection amidst a global crisis.

Parlá’s textured, gestural surfaces go beyond the aesthetic; they delve into a universal language, inspired by the subterranean communication networks of fungi. Drawing on Peter Wohlleben’s concept of the “Wood Wide Web,” Parlá reflects on the interconnectivity of all life forms, symbolised in his work by abstracted, mycelium-like formations. This network, existing beneath the earth and nourishing life above, becomes a metaphor for art’s power to connect people, bridging divides of culture and ideology.

The title Ciclos, or “Cycles,” echoes his father’s profound wisdom: “Life cycles, son, life cycles. Ciclos is everything!” This series captures the inevitable flow of life, the natural rhythm of decay and renewal, reaching outward, flourishing, and collapsing in an eternal dance. Through these paintings, Parlá offers a poetic tribute to the human spirit, where every brushstroke speaks to the resilience, connectivity, and cyclical beauty of life itself.