New Work

the longest haul, chowara, kovalam,kerala, india, 41x96 inches oil on canvas

Lynn Parotti's work both celebrates and mourns the continual tensions within the natural world. Painting both large and small-scale canvases she immerses and connects the viewer to the landscapes for which she has become so well known.

approaching rio di s. giovanni chrisostomo, venice, italy, 16x18 inches, oil on canvas		within rio di s. canciano, venice, italy 16x18 inches, oil on canvas
approaching rio dei santi apostoli,venice, italy 16 x 18 inches, oil on canvas		within rio dei santi apostoli,venice, italy 16 x 18 inches, oil on canvas

The new paintings demonstrate a deepening appreciation of the sensuous possibilities of oil paint, and a preoccupation with transience and fragility of life. Recent travels to Venice this winter have inspired the Rio dei Santi Apostoli Series where our viewpoint is one of a gondola passenger navigated by a golden seahorse as we travel through the smaller canals splintering off the Grand Canal. Decay looms as the authority of nature is revealed by the moss staining the unoccupied ground floors of the treasured buildings.


red roses at full bloom 88x80 inches, cherry blossom 50x96 inches oil on canvas

Parotti works her charged colour palette with masterful ease: an ease that has its roots in her Bahamian childhood. Such exposure to the colour-soaked Caribbean has given her an innate ability to push the richness of land and ocean. She has harnessed the properties of her palette; the lush greens and the aquamarines, the burnished coppers and crimson reds, just as nature harnesses them as a tool of evolution. And just as nature has devised warning shades, so too has Parotti. In her “Red Tide” series we are shown a seemingly benign underwater landscape, imbued with the grace and fragile majesty of giant sea fans. But, look closer and you will see that, worked into the luxurious ultramarine and cobalt tones of the canvas, are countless dot-like representations of the potentially lethal toxins released once a year by the reef systems: the Red Tide.


red tide at full bloom 14 x 36 inches

It is this tension that informs so much of her work; technically intricate canvases that depict a natural beauty but scratch the surface and we find a battle rages beneath where the fragility of nature is continually challenged, both by itself and by man. There is an urgency about Parotti. She has a need to communicate through her work the fragility of life and the time-sensitive issues of conservation. Having spent the last ten years as Artist in Residence at the Chelsea Children's Hospital School, she has seen only too closely how an awareness of death can be a motivating force in the appreciation of life. Much of her latest work is about regeneration and rebirth. Cherry Blossom , Wisteria and Red Roses at Full Bloom are just three of her recent canvases which manage to capture the temporary brilliance of the natural lifecycle. Here, transient blooms burst forth from a visceral state of flux. But always we are aware of the optimism within Parotti's work, as the blooms will return again next season.Parotti's Kerala series, inspired by her recent journey to India this year, scrutinises the struggles between man and the ocean. In A Long Haul , fishermen are seen hauling endless nets from the ocean, which as a result of the disruption of the ecosystem, have not been filled with any fish. The enchanting sunrise scenes display the painter's expertise with colour and light, yet the daily plight of this local fishing community looms.


a long haul, chowara, kovalam, kerala, india 24x36 inches oil on canvas


These ecological concerns mirror Parotti's unease with tourism and its impact on local communities and the natural environment. Painted and titled before the devastating Tsunami of last Christmas, the series Awaiting the Return of Tourists depicts the Thai islands of Phi Phi. The longtail boats which ferry tourists to and from the surrounding beaches lie idly in the crystal waters closed in by the magnificent interior of the land rising behind them– their purpose solely dependent on the needs of the tourists who hire them. A greater resonance is now given to these works as truly the sea is the beginning and the end.

Limited Edition Prints

Lynn Parotti's Limited Edition Prints are produced in runs of 110 and are signed, numbered and dated by the artist. They are lithographs and are printed on acid free, 300 gsm Italian Canaletto Paper. Dimensions are 48x59 cm. To ensure the integrity of the limited editions, all printing plates have been destroyed and no future prints will be made of these images. A Certificate of Authenticity accompanies each print which guarantees the genuineness of the limited editions.