José Parlá Returns to Miami with the Exhibition “Homecoming” at Pérez Art Museum
The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), in Miami, USA,inaugurated at the end of last year the exhibition “José Parlá: Homecoming”, a milestone in the artist’s career and a significant event in the contemporary art scene. On view through July 6, 2025, the exhibition brings together a new series of previously unseen works, a site-specific mural, and an immersive installation that faithfully recreates the artist’s studio. More than just an exhibition, Homecoming is a return to one’s roots, a manifesto of resilience, and a powerful testimony to the transformative strength of art.
LEFT: José Parlá. American Mindscape, 2024. Acrylic, oil, enamel spray paint, paper collage, and plaster on canvas. 96 x 168 x 3 inches. Courtesy the artist and Parlá Studios; RIGHT: José Parlá. Breath of Life, Inhale and Exhale, 2024. Acrylic, oil, enamel, collage, and plaster on canvas. Two panels: 96 x 72 inches, each. 192 x 3 inches, overall. Courtesy the artist and Parlá Studios, Matthew Marks Gallery
Art in Motion: Live Mural and Studio Inside the Museum
Curated by Maritza M. Lacayo, Homecoming is structured in two distinct parts. In the first, visitors had the rare opportunity to witness the creation of a monumental mural titled “HOMECOMING” (Before Time, the First Migrations), (2024), painted live on October 26 and 27, 2024. In the second, the gallery is transformed into the artist’s studio — complete with paint-covered tables, a lively collection of Cuban vinyl records, and memorabilia from decades of artistic practice — left untouched since Parlá completed the mural.
LEFT: José Parlá: Homecoming. Installation view: Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2024. Photo: Lazaro Llanes; RIGHT: José Parlá. A Life of Memories Racing Through Art Deco Miami Beach Avenues, 2024. Acrylic, oil, enamel, collage and plaster on canvas. 96 x 168 x 3 inches. Courtesy the artist and Parlá Studios
The new works presented in “Homecoming” are built through a complex layering of materials and memories: coats of paint, plaster, fragments of urban posters torn from the streets of Miami, and gestural calligraphies that evoke the names of neighborhoods, countries, and displaced communities. These elements merge into dense, vibrant, and sensorial compositions, where time itself seems to be sedimented. Each painting becomes a living surface, marked by additions and erasures — as if the city itself, with its stories of migration, resilience, and transformation, were given voice through matter.
“These abstract marks become indelible echoes in the tapestry of geography and historical psychology,” says Parlá. His practice is profoundly physical and emotional, guided by instinctive gestures and a process that merges writing, painting, and visual archaeology. By working with materials that bear the wear of urban life, the artist transforms the remnants of the street into universal narratives about belonging, memory, and identity.
LEFT: José Parlá. Heritage Trails, Journeys of Hope and Renewal, 2024. Acrylic, oil, enamel, collage, and plaster on canvas. 96 x 168 x 3 inches. Courtesy the artist and Parlá Studios; RIGHT: José Parlá. Return to Miami's Ancestral Circle, 2024. Acrylic, oil, enamel, collage, and plaster on canvas. 60 x 60 x 2 1/4 inches. Courtesy the artist and Parlá Studios
José Parlá: Hybrid Roots and Urban Visual Culture
Born in 1973 in Miami to Cuban parents, José Parlá was raised between the United States and Puerto Rico, deeply absorbing the cultural landscapes of the Caribbean and Latin America. This transnational experience nurtured his interest in hybrid forms of expression and elements such as Cuban music, hip hop, reggae, dance, calligraphy, and urban decay — all of which are recurring components in his work. He studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), the New World School of the Arts, and Miami Dade College, where he developed and solidified his distinctive artistic approach.
José Parlá. Aguanile, The Spiritual Cleansing of Home, 2024. Acrylic, oil, enamel, collage, and plaster on canvas. 96 x 72 x 3 inches. Courtesy the artist and Parlá Studios
His work, marked by physical gesture, layering of materials, and urban intervention, challenges conventional visual culture by creating a kind of pictorial stream of consciousness. Through painting, Parlá constructs narratives that question language, identity, geography, and belonging — always imbued with a strong autobiographical and poetic charge.
Homecoming: A Return to the Body, Memory, and Practice
In 2021, Parlá experienced a critical health episode after contracting COVID-19. He was hospitalized, fell into a four-month coma, and endured a stroke and significant brain bleeding. The exhibition _Homecoming_ marks his return to painting after this involuntary hiatus. More than a resumption of artistic activity, the show celebrates a process of healing, transformation, and re-enchantment with the act of creation itself.
LEFT: Installation view: José Parlá: Homecoming, Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2024–25. Photo: Oriol Tarridas; RIGHT: Installation view: José Parlá: Homecoming, Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2024–25. Photo: Oriol Tarridas
By transforming the institutional space into an extension of his studio and memory, Parlá offers the public an intimate and powerful experience — an invitation to reflect on how personal histories intertwine with collective narratives and turn physical spaces into symbolic territories.
An Exhibition Deeply Connected to Miami
For curator Lacayo, “Homecoming” resonates with the diversity and complexity of the city: “It is the story of an artist whose journey reflects the experiences of migration, reconstruction, and identity that define Miami. The exhibition is both a tribute to the city and a universal testimony of resilience.
LEFT: Installation view: José Parlá: Homecoming, Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2024–25. Photo: Oriol Tarridas; RIGHT: Installation view: José Parlá: Homecoming, Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2024–25. Photo: Oriol Tarridas
With the support of Goya Foods, PAMM reaffirms its commitment to accessible, engaged art that represents the many voices inhabiting its community. “Homecoming” is a return — to the city, to painting, to life.
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