He was born in 1944 in Sikeston Missouri. After his studies at the University of Kansas he became Assistant Professor of Graphic Techniques at Kent State University, where he taught from 1965 to 1970. At the age of 26, with his wife he went on a study trip to Europe and Asia, thanks to which he abandoned the United States, and in fact he lives and works in Spain. He has made solo exhibitions in many countries of Europe and the United States. His work is characterized by a realism permeated with magic and dreaminess. Parkes has in fact studied the Eastern and Western esoteric doctrines, and his figurative language is determined by a set of knowledge, which includes the Kabbalah and Tantra, made in forms that spring from his imagination but made accessible: strange animals meet mysterious winged women and good and evil fight their eternal conflict. Fascinated by graphic techniques, in the last ten years Parkes has approached sculpture becoming an expert in the technique of lost wax bronze casting.
