park
joon-hee
Born in 1979 in Korea, Joon Hee Park emigrated to New Zealand in 1993, and has completed a BFA and an MFA at Elam, graduating in 2003. She currently lives in Auckland.
As a child, Park spent many happy hours in the studio of her father, Hyun-Kyu Park, a renowned surrealist painter with work in major Korean national galleries and collections. Surrealism is a strong influence in Park's own work, which she considers as a process of exploring and mapping her psyche.
Park draws from a variety of sources: memories of a childhood split between two cultures; favourite toys, traditional festivals and Korean sweets; revisited dreams, memories and events; and the bittersweet vagaries of adulthood. Funny and lyrical, strange and sad, Park's surreal and dream-like paintings invoke the sharp tang of memory, of a lost past.
carnival
9 February - 4 March 2017
Carnival, stems from a curious dream. Her paintings are layered with reality and imagination; fairy tales, childhood memories, dreams, furry creatures, her collections of little toys, objects and old photographs, and everyday reality. Images, such as the ice cream incident, the collecting of candies in her skirt scene, and the wire-walking octopus are based on childhood events.
WELCOME TO MY WORLD
4 - 25 November 2014
Park's Welcome to My World shows quirky, whimsical animal companions filling the frame and taking on surreal, life-size personalities. A flying octopus, galloping moles - all command our fascinated gaze as they romp through hectic, dreamlike adventures, or simply sit and bear silent witness.
if things were perfect
13 November - 1 December 2012
In If things were perfect Joon-Hee Park delves deep into the more complex and bittersweet vagaries of adulthood. The idyllic candy-coloured playground of previous paintings have receded into the distance as Park and her friends revisit dreams, memories and events that allow her to right a wrong, or alternatively present a brave, more adventurous self.
day dream
24 February - 4 March 2009
Day Dream continues Joon-Hee's sometimes dark exploration of a personal narrative style, building a storyline based on the treasured mementoes given to her by her father. At first glance the works appear almost trance-like - a candy-coloured hallucination of childhood. But look more deeply and there is a sharp tang behind the sugar coating.
