By snoadmin
Brightly colored pop art castles and palaces line the walls of “Maze Routes,” the piece that forms the on campus art exhibition “Desire.”
Master of Fine Arts and printmaking student Ji Sun Park’s exhibition is an interactive maze piece and a sympathetic reflection of social expectations of someone pursuing a successful career.
Park is originally from South Korea, where the pressures of wealth and improvement of social standing are something that everybody has to endure, according to Park.
“When I was young [I would say], ‘I want to be an artist,'” Park said. “But people would always tell me ‘No, an artist is not a good job.'”
Park created “Maze Routes,” a labyrinth-like path, which is a visual representation of the psychological path Park traveled in order to find her place as an artist, Park said. The maze is decorated with brightly colored images of Disneyland castles, Korean palaces and European dollhouses.
Park said each of the buildings represents the fantasy of a higher social standing.
“[Disneyland is] all about fantasy to me; even America is like a fantasy,” Park said. “In Korea, if you get a degree in America, you may have a better chance to get a good job.”
The Korean palaces and the European dollhouses are also displayed because both suggest wealth and social status, according to Park.
The building images are made from stencils Park made from Linocut, a type of cork material. She then painted the buildings on the see-through vinyl walls using her stencils. There are 22 clear vinyl sheets that make up the “Maze Routes.”
At the center of the maze is another one of Park’s pieces, “Failure’s Room.”
“Failure’s Room” symbolizes the place where failures lock themselves away.
“They want to hide from others’ gaze,” Park said. “That’s why they lock themselves inside.”
The piece is a small box made out of the same clear vinyl as the maze. It also shares the same designs of Disneyland castles, Korean palaces and European dollhouses.
Viewers have the chance to crawl inside of “Failure’s Room” so they can see the outside world though the eyes of the failure.
“[The images] present the failures’ fantasy of what the outside world is like,” Park said. “You are locked in, but you see the outside world through a hopeful image.”
Park said she hopes “Desire” will bring comfort to students.
“Everybody suffers from [societal pressures]. I want to give sympathy,” she said.
“Desire” is open for public viewing Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m. in the East Gatov Gallery located on upper campus.
