ANNA PARK

Early Years

Anna Park was born in Daegu, South Korea, in 1996. Her early years were marked by frequent relocations, including a period in New Zealand before her family settled in Redondo Beach, California, and later in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Park began her formal art education studying illustration and animation at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, then at the New York Academy of Art, where she completed her MFA in 2020.

Anna Park Artworks

Drawing on influences from advertising, comics, films, and art history, Anna Park’s works blend chaotic, emotionally charged scenes with moments of intimacy.

Park’s compositions often feature fragmented figures and vignettes that reflect on the anxieties of popular culture. They have garnered international attention for their sardonic wit and incisive commentary on cultural and gender constructs, as well as the psychological complexities of contemporary life.

Process

The artist’ process is defined by her improvisational approach, which begins with spontaneous mark-making that evolves into intricate figurative compositions. Her works are characterised by a monochromatic palette, using shades of black, grey, and white to evoke both nostalgia and immediacy.

Text

Text began to enter Park’s drawings around the time she was preparing for her solo exhibition Anna Park: Look, look. at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, in 2024. In a Vogue interview, the artist said ‘language is as malleable as images are, and I thought it would be interesting to play with the double entendre for certain words.’

In the resulting works, short phrases and words such as ‘Look, look’, ‘No,’ and ‘Here’s what you need’ are juxtaposed with portraits of smiling, sardonic, or puzzled young women along with flowers and panels that recall advertisements featuring images of idealised, sexually charged women.

Awards and Accolades

• First Prize, AXA Art Prize (2019)
• Grand Prize, Strokes of Genius 11: Finding Beauty (2019)

Exhibitions

Anna Park has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions at leading institutions.

Solo Exhibitions

• Anna Park: Look, Look. The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (2024)
• Last Call, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia (2022)

Group Exhibitions

• Fire Figure Fantasy: Selections from ICA Miami’s Collection, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (2022)
• Artists Inspired by Music: Interscope Reimagined, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (2022)
• 100 Drawings from Now, The Drawing Center, New York (2020)

Collections

Park’s works have been collected by major U.S. institutions following her debut New York solo show, Pluck Me Tender (2021) at Half Gallery, including:

• Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
• High Museum of Art, Atlanta
• Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
• K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• Perez Art Museum, Miami

Website and Instagram

Park’s website can be found here, and her Instagram can be found here.

Anna Park FAQs

Ocula | 2025