Freedom is not a given for people and nature.
It is fragile, vulnerable and valuable and requires constant protection and care in order to survive. And this is precisely where an ambiguity becomes apparent: protection also means being kept away from the natural environment. In other words, artificiality is needed to preserve naturalness – a coexistence inevitably arises.
Kejoo Park’s work focuses on this tension between naturalness and artificiality, between the source of life and artificial conditions.
The hard shell and the soft core that it protects do not form a contradiction for Park, they exist in parallel.
This interface becomes clear in the exhibition theme “The inside of the outside”. Although a rough, defensive exterior forms a contrast to the fragile interior, it is nevertheless indispensable.
Park tries to make this duality visible and raise awareness of this coexistence.
Man-made rough and hard materials such as concrete and steel are juxtaposed with vibrant colors, valuable or fragile materials such as gold or paper. She establishes relationships between the elements to be protected and the protective shell. And this does not happen without looking to the future. Nature and freedom as elementary pillars that we cherish like a precious treasure. Kejoo Park symbolically manifests this hope in her exhibition.
Born and raised in South Korea, Kejoo Park went to New York to study painting and from there to Harvard, where she devoted herself to landscape architecture. It is these stations that outline the artist’s work, which is characterized by the contrasts between man and nature, interior and exterior, painting and object art.