Park Ji Hyun is an artist with an eclectic style. He uses unconventional approaches within diversity. Looking at his works, there seem to be different artworks from various artists because his works break the rules and boundaries of themes, forms, materials, and genres. When his works are looked into more carefully and broadly, however, his distinctive perspectives and dispositions could be recognized through his works. This exhibition will represent an opportunity to appreciate his diverse artworks in one place.
1. Transpose 2. Transfer 3. Transform
These three keywords in his works will 'transpose', 'transfer', and 'transform' with his surroundings organically.
Whereas physical alterations of forms are visual, it is conceptional to replace one meaning with another and convert it into a distinct meaning. In Park's art, 'Transform' is to create something new by changing physical shapes of discovered materials with his own inspiration and 'Transpose' indicates a semantic change without alterations of the original shapes or physical forms. 'Pun – Wordplay' is the case. His humorous artworks using wordplay with a slight joke leads to philosophical thoughts. Park never takes existing facts or objects as they are. Whenever there is a slightest gap that he could get into, he always quickly finds and twists them with a sense of humor. It is his personal work disposition and it could be found in his other works as well.
Few artists tend not to stay in the same place. They constantly move from one place to another to search for connections from their own artworks. The direction of the next works emanates from the old ones. However, it should be distinguished from blindly imitating other contemporary artists. Park's wordplay 'Pointless series' transferred to 'Uptown' which is an art installation using incense as a material, then this material became a tool to create 'Pont series' by putting holes on hanji, Korean traditional paper, with burned incense. Only fire remained from the incense then it burned ink lines to create 'Line series'. As it was mentioned earlier, Park's artworks are very diverse using various materials and methods. But there is a structural connection, like a track, among his works. Particularly noteworthy points are the property of matter and the elements. It always starts with the property of matter and transfer to the elements. The role of the incense in the art installation is the property of matter, but the burnt incense to make holes is a functional element. The following work with the burnt ink lines brought up fire as an element from its functional element.
Incense(form) ->fire(device)-> hole(form) -> fire(device) -> trace(form)
Once Park is accustomed to the property of materials, he transfers to the next step. And then he transfers to another new form from the previous step.
One of the distinct characteristics of Park's works is a transformation of its original form. The subjects for his works could be ordinary objects, abandoned stuffs, and everything around us. These original forms are visually transformed by the transactor, Park. The most recent work, Thomson series, presents the significant external variations. Derelict Thomson plywood is generally just a waste. The article stays deserted after fulfilling its purpose until an artist notices something special inside. It all begins with the artist's will or talent to assign its new purpose. His modification is slightly different from ready-made ones or artworks related to environmental ethics which are in trend. He significantly takes them to the next level. The abandoned materials are modified by the artist then it does not just simply increase the conceptual value, but the external value as well.
Press release courtesy Baik Art.
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