Canyon Song: El Canto del Agua
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
"Fast water makes our blood race. We can feel the low growl from the belly of the river. We can hear its weight and force as it gouges its own chasm. The Kern river travels 120 mountain miles before reaching flat land." — Lucinda Parker
The five paintings that Lucinda Parker created for the U.S. Courthouse in Bakersfield, California, are about water: wild water, transported water, engineered water, pumped water, and irrigated water. These paintings are Parker's response to Mill Creek, which flows through the park just west of the courthouse, and to the mysterious and inventive systems of water throughout the arid west. In these paintings, Parker shows her love of the expressive gestures and strong shapes that inform both her abstract and landscape compositions. For Parker, the materiality of paint mimics the fluidity of water, with its drips and rhythmic energy.
