Sung Eun Park

Join us for a talk by artist Sung Eun Park, Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Western Oregon University, in the Huber Auditorium Wednesday, March 4 from 6-7PM.

Artist Statement

Simply having the desire to achieve an ideal world would never actually empower us to escape from reality since we have already reached our limits in attempting to overcome the nature of fate. When we face persistent obstacles caused by collisions between desire and reality, we are forced to either step backwards or break through the boundary. Such conflicts intensify as we more deeply recognize the condition of our situation. As such, can we ever be relieved of our own pressure to overcome such tension? Do conflicts need to be resolved in order to have the freedom to choose neither hope nor reality?

In my current body of work, I explore the conflicts between humanity’s desperate hopes and reality. Such conflicts occur between desire and forbiddance, desire and the ideal, consciousness and unconsciousness, and instinct and rationality in our human nature. In each piece of the work, nothing is compromised by its opposite; both sides maintain their own energy in the tension of confrontation. The power struggle between them is revealed through the visual representation. The exaggerated, yet unstable gestures of forms are constructed with found objects that stimulate humans’ five senses. The installation often comes from a drawing—the central source of my work—that started as collages of images I have found. These images are chosen from existing reality, but their arrangement is given over to imagination.

These narrative scenes not only express the intoxicating air of freedom, but also allow viewers to affirm their own desires. However, while enjoying this moment of freedom, they might realize that they have embarked on a dangerous adventure. This is a condition of which we are always aware.

Learn more about the artist on their website.