PANOPLY EXHIBITION RESOURCE GUIDE: About

The exhibitions “Panoply: 26 Painted Lives: Ray Allen Parker,” “Sugar & Venom: Kristen Franyutti,” and “Sportsball: Jessica Lambert” will open with a 5 to 6:30 p.m. reception Thursday, March 14, at Bradbury Art Museum (BAM) at Arkansas State University.

Admission to the reception and exhibitions is free. “Panoply: 26 Painted Lives” continues through May 29. “Sugar & Venom” and “Sportsball” continue through April 3.

“Panoply” is a gathering of 26 monumental portraits by Arkansas-based artist Ray Allen Parker. Raised in Egypt, Ark., Parker creates larger-than-life oil paintings that explore the faces and figures of friends, family and creative heroes. Parker’s paintings are bold but intimate, naturalistic but expressive, dense but revealing.

The exhibition begins with “Lit,” 17 oil painting portraits of great authors whose works have influenced what Parker terms his “mental landscape.”  The “Lit” paintings comprise a visual biography of the artist, who holds two degrees in English literature.

The portraits trace Parker’s journey through the novels and poetry that have shaped his thought and feelings about major themes explored in literature.

Panoply Exhibition