Pérez Art Museum Miami Homecoming, 2024
José Parlá: Homecoming, presented at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and organized by curator Maritza Lacayo, marked the artist's first solo museum exhibition in his hometown of Miami. Conceived as a meditation on the meaning of home, the exhibition explored themes of migration, identity, memory, and belonging while paying homage to the cultural histories of the Caribbean and Latin America. Presented in two chapters, Homecoming first invited visitors to witness Parlá's performative, dance-like painting process as he created a monumental site-specific mural. The second iteration transformed the gallery into the artist's working studio, immersing audiences in his creative environment through paint-covered tables, a Cuban-inspired record collection, and decades of archival materials that traced the personal and cultural experiences shaping his practice.
Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn Abstraction: Four Artists, Four Walls, 2022
José Parlá’s Ciclos: Blooms of Mold was presented as part of Brooklyn Abstraction: Four Artists, Four Walls at the Brooklyn Museum organized by curator Catherine Futter. Installed in the Museum’s monumental Beaux-Arts Court, the large-scale environmental painting transformed the architectural space through richly layered surfaces, gestural mark-making, and luminous color. Drawing on themes of transformation, memory, and the regenerative cycles found in nature, Ciclos: Blooms of Mold explored the poetic relationship between decay and renewal while creating an immersive dialogue with the works of Maya Hayuk, Kennedy Yanko, and Leon Polk Smith.
Pola Museum Annex Home Away from Home, 2025
Home Away from Home presented Parlá's work through the lens of a landscape shaped by memory, movement, and human connection rather than a single idea of home. Drawing on his long relationship with Japan since 1999, the exhibition at POLA Museum Annex and Kotaro Nukaga featured paintings, including a new large-scale work inspired by Tokyo, alongside Bizen ceramics and collaborations with Japanese artists and designers. Together, the works reflected how travel, urban experience, history, memory, and collaboration continue to shape his practice.
Far Rockaway Writer's Library, Queens, New York, 2024
Where Language and Knowledge Come Together
A collaboration between Snøhetta and José Parlá, the new Far Rockaway Library in Queens was designed to reflect the diversity, history, and dynamism of the Far Rockaway community. Conceived as both a gathering place and a center for learning, the library embodies resilience while providing a welcoming space where language, culture, and knowledge converge to inspire future generations.
