Youngmin Park: Allegory of Fragility

Youngmin Park's artistic inspiration stems from her formative years as the youngest member of a large family. Growing up with three generations under one roof including seven aunts and dozens of dogs and cats, she was immersed in the intricate power dynamics of both human and animal relationships. Navigating this complex environment instilled in her a profound awareness of the impossibility of comprehending everything concurrently in a large group. Such experience sparks her fundamental doubts about the nature of experience, cognition, and memory, highlighting the inherent limitations of our understanding. Park, however, embraces the fragility of perception and memory, incorporating it into layers of her artistic process.

In Park's paintings, figures intentionally are void of any notable traits. She directs the attention towards exploring how viewers perceive the overarching narrative rather than specific character details. This approach fosters an expansive realm with ample interpretive method.

Park's narrative technique resembles the extraction of fragments from a forgotten drawer, akin to flash backs in human memory. This non-linear storytelling encourages a multi-faceted observation and flexible interpretation, capturing the movement of time and space within a story from diverse vantage points. For instance, "My Red is Your Green" features nine static frames arranged in a grid, underscoring the uneven nature of perceiving a story through a succession of continuous and discontinuous images.Recurring elements traverse different canvases, delicately conveying that events unfold within a shared environment yet across distinct temporal slices. Park invites viewers to immerse themselves in a mysterious tableau, encouraging contemplation of the enigmatic puzzles embedded in her paintings.

Memory, susceptible to distortions, inaccuracies, and gradual fading over time, undergoes reconstruction and alteration upon recall—a quality that Park adeptly weaves into her works. Recurring elements, such as figures, dogs, and birds, drawn from the artist’s memories undergo a captivating metamorphosis, adopting various forms. This artistic play extends the narrative, evoking a sense of confusion, mirroring a distorted and fading memory being reconstructed. In this evocative exploration, the dog transforms into the human, the ball becomes the sun, and the bird takes on the persona of a plane. Amidst numerous dissonances, a coherent sequence emerges, comprised of fragmentary images that are delicately interconnected. The distorted time and space in Park's painting accentuate the parallax of gaze, challenging viewers to discern and connect the intricacies within her visually captivating narratives. Thus, a narrative exploring the fluid and malleable nature of memory is constructed, encouraging reflection on the intricate interplay between recollection and transformation within the canvas of the mind.