Courtesy photos

HE IS: Justin Parr, 27

BEST KNOWN FOR: His photography (both fine art and commercial) and running the very cool FL!GHT Gallery. He also contributes to the Emvergeoning arts blog.

Parr opened FL!GHT in 2001 at the silos at Blue Star when he was just 21; a few years ago he moved it to 1906 S. Flores St., where it’s now an integral part of the South Flores art scene. The gallery displays work by San Antonio and Texas artists as well as national and international artists, from the unknowns to the very well-knowns.

“A lot of what FL!GHT is doing is building community,” said Parr, a San Antonio native. “We wanted to work together and get San Antonio recognized as a place where contemporary art is happening.”

Parr’s own work often takes the form of photographic installations, photographic sculpture or performance art. In 2006, he ran through the streets of New York holding a sculpture of red Mylar balloons as part of the Rider Project. Those same balloons were featured floating around Marfa in an exhibit of photographs at vtrue artspace in 2006.

CURRENTLY: “Home” at Three Walls Gallery features three large-scale images of West Texas landscapes seemingly split down the middle by a bolt of electricity (an effect Parr achieved, impressively, without using Photoshop).

“I’ve done a lot of things where I’ve intervened in the landscape and added something,” he said.

Below the images, the gallery floor is covered with sod. “You come in, you take your shoes off, you hang out on the sod,” Parr explained. “Sod has a huge smell factor and triggers all kinds of memories.”

On Wednesday, May 7, Three Walls will screen a version of the new video piece Parr has been making with a grant from the Artist Foundation of San Antonio. The piece uses thousands of his still photographs to tell a story about life in San Antonio.

CHECK HIM OUT: “Home” is up at Three Walls through May 26, when there will be a ceremonial cutting of the sod at 5 p.m. Some of his work also can be seen at flickr.com/photos/justinparr. And those stickers and graffiti drawings of TV sets with the words “I own you. Turn it off.” you might have seen on telephone poles and buildings around town? Those were Parr’s brainchild as well.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA contributor