Laura Parnes

Laura Parnes’ multiplatform, lens-based projects fuse comedy with pathos to probe social and political trauma. Informed by traditions and genres in narrative film and digital art, her work blurs the lines between conventions of storytelling and experimentation. The performers in her projects are often part of a diverse community of artists and musicians, many of whom are responsible for the rich underground scene in NYC and who have shaped and affected other mainstream art cultures.

Parnes has screened and exhibited widely in the US and internationally, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; MoMA PS1, NY; Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, FL; Brooklyn Museum, NY; Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece; The International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; and on PBS and Spanish Television. She had solo exhibitions at Pioneer Works, Human Resources, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Participant Inc., Deitch Projects, and Fitzroy Gallery; and solo screenings at the Wexner Center for the Arts, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Kitchen, New York City. Parnes is a 2013 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow and a 2016 Creative Capital Awardee. Video Data Bank published a box set of her work, and Participant Press published a book of her scripts titled Blood and Guts in Hollywood: Two Screenplays.