GAHEE PARK

Bodies of water serve as backdrops for humans and animals, who often appear stranded on an island. In Seafood Heaven, the aftermath of an ocean wave reveals sea dwellers alongside a human form resembling a mountain or shell. The washed-up creatures appear at once luminous and lifeless, like a plate of sashimi awaiting consumption, while the work’s title underscores the tension between nature’s beauty and the human impulse to conquer it. In Wetland at Dusk, a double-mouthed woman cradles a duck amid a dense ecology of tadpoles, mating dragonflies, and a frog resting in a disembodied hand. Here, multiple life cycles and food chains unfold simultaneously across a single plane.

In other works, Park turns inward, exploring multiplicities of the individual through portraits where light and shadow function as shifting masks. In Creeping Shadow, a woman with multiple eyes peers at a spider in the bottom right corner, her fragmented gaze suggesting heightened perception or unease. In Half-Seen, Half-Looking, one side of a woman’s face appears illuminated and tranquil, while a taloned hand curls around a shadowed curtain that veils the other. Park cites artist Joan Jonas’s Organic Honey’s Visual Telepathy as a key influence, a performance in which Jonas appears both as herself and a masked double, using an alter ego to explore female archetypes and the psyche.

Ambiguity extends into Park’s still lifes, where unexpected objects or disembodied elements hint at narratives beyond the frame. In Still Life With Tired Moth, a moth rests beneath a vibrant bouquet. In Still Life with Butterflies, butterflies appear amongst wilting flowers and a fingernail slips into the corner of the composition, detached from any visible body. We are left to wonder how these elements are connected. Park’s paintings resist resolution, presenting perceptions shaped by fleeting, perpetually unfolding realities.

Still Life With Tired Moth and Seafood Heaven will appear in Park’s forthcoming solo exhibition at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, on view from August 7, 2026 – January 3, 2027. Still Life with Butterflies will be included in the Paris Opera’s benefit exhibition, on view from October 21 - 30, 2026.

Courtesy Perrotin.