Concepts and Challenges: AAC Resident Artist Jung Min Park’s Memory-scapes
Everywhere we go, we create a memory.
Each memory is connected to a place in time, and not only that but is probably influenced more than a little by how we felt in that time and place, or what the weather was like that day, or even what we imagined or expected that moment to be like.
In her work AAC Resident Artist Jung Min Park offers a visual exploration of this idea with often large-scale mixed media assemblages that weave together memories and imaginations of cities where she has lived with where she is right now.
She constructs entirely new locations, where she invites the viewer to join her amid thread, fiber, paint, and collage.
Jung describes these places as an encapsulation in time, a moment that stands alone.
She zooms in on those moments revealing familiar imagery within the abstraction. It is in these places where she wants her memories and imaginations to connect with that of the viewer.
to share my world and communicate with people through my paintings
Until March 20 you can see her work in Memory-scapes, a solo show currently on view at DC Arts Center, and hear from her this Sunday at a closing reception and artist talk.
To gain a better understanding of this body of work and the challenges of mounting a solo exhibition, we asked Jung two questions:
What is the concept of the show?
My paintings are reproduced on my memories captured and accumulated from various places that I visited at different times; they are suggested as communal spaces that induce emotional communications for people.
What were the challenges of developing this show?
Holding a solo show means that I have to fill the space all by myself, which gives me a bit of pressure because I have to expose my everything to people, and I am nervous about how my work is shown to them. However, I would rather see it as a great opportunity to share my world and communicate with people through my paintings, where I can enjoy and grow at the same time.
About the Artist:
Jung Min Park is a mixed media fiber artist from South Korea, where she received her first BFA from the Korean National University of Arts.
She moved to the United States where she received her second BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Pratt Institute.
Using her background in painting and installation, Park creates cityscapes that are based on her imagination and observations she makes from her explorations in the current city she inhabits.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at solo and group exhibitions, and she has received various awards from Korea Modern Cultural Art Association, a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and a grant from Korean Ministry of Cultures, Sports, and Tourisms.
