From his childhood home on the southern Italian shores of the Adriatic Sea to his life now on the Texas Gulf Coast, Parente has been shaped and inspired by his experience of the sea. In his new series of reductive abstract paintings, titled Pelagico, Parente beckons the observer to consider both the sea that lies within and the expanse of sea that brings life to the world.

The paintings in this series capture the paradox of the sea that may be observed as, at once, contemplative calm and wild abandon. Parente's use of negative space and a ground of white draws the observer into the experience of serenity, while his introduction of undulating black lines and flashes of brilliant blues and iridescent greens bring forceful energy and movement to his work.