INTERVIEW WITH SUI PARK
Sui Park is a New York based artist born in Seoul, Korea. Her work involves creating 3-dimensional flexible organic forms of a comfortable ambiance that are yet dynamic and possibly mystical or illusionary.
She had solo exhibitions at the Pelham Art Center, Pelham, New York (2018), at the Denise Bibro Fine Gallery in Chelsea, New York, at the Kingsborough Community College, CUNY in Brooklyn, NY, and participated in over 100 exhibitions. Her artwork has been acquired, among others, by Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and Saks Fifth Avenue Flagship Store in the United States.
Undulating Beauty, 2018, 21 x 7.5 x 2.5 feet, Black Cable Ties
Sui, what do the geometric shapes of your works express?
My work focuses on creating abstract forms of dynamic characteristics. My work may be in organic, geometric or in biomorphic shapes. Through these shapes, I attempt to create an ambiance that is seemingly static yet dynamic. The dynamics may be slow and steady, or it could be fast and rapid. I represent and visualize the dynamics in abstract form to encapsulate and express changes each of us experienced, gone through or have felt. Some may be the turning points of our lives, some may be the growing sentiments, or persevering in aspirations.
How do you choose the materials you use for your artworks? Do they have an intrinsic meaning in addition to functional value?
Monofilament (fishing line) and cable zip ties are my main materials. They are wonderful materials to work with. They are the building blocks of my artworks, like modules in architecture. They are very easy to fabricate that I can exactly manipulate in order to precisely structure my initially thoughts.
Monofilament and cable zip ties are non–durable, disposable, trivial, inexpensive and easily consumed materials. But, when I weave and connect them, they are transformed into organic visualizations. I want them to be creating lasting moments, evoking and encapsulating our precious thoughts.
Thought Bubbles, 2014, Thought Bubbles, Cable Ties
Where do you find inspiration for your works?
I mostly get inspirations from nature and I love reinterpreting it through my artwork. For example, Undulating Beauty attempts to visualize undulating sea at night. Through the work, I wanted to reinterpret what one may have thought or have felt by looking at the sea at night. Then again, the interpretation does not necessarily have to be confined or limited to my intention.
How has your artistic research evolved over time?
I majored Fiber Arts and Contemporary Embroidery in Korea, and Environmental Design and Interior Architecture in USA. What I practice today is a combination of what I studied in both countries. A major feature of my work comes from Fiber Arts, spatial and structural aspects follows from Environmental Design and Interior Architecture studies. For current work in progress, I am trying to develop visualization of abstract thoughts of human philosophy. Nothing sophisticated, but something largely known and agreed upon, but less visualized.
Blue Print, 2014, 54 x 18 x 14 feet (H), Cable Ties
What is the role of art in your life? And which one, in your opinion, in contemporary society?
For me, art has started as an interest and continued as a specialty, and now a profession. It currently plays as a new chapter in my book and it is hard to think without it.
I think art plays a role that is similar to what media or books play in contemporary society. Art has a role of communicating and expressing ideas. But, I think art mainly touches audience or people via sentiments and impression of subject matter, and having them ponder through their own theme.
Some of your installations are now at the Morris Museum in Morristown*. Can you tell me more about this?
The Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey in USA is currently exhibiting “Natural Essence – Motion Perceived.” Some of my installation work, Undulating Beauty, Flow, and a new work Sprinkle are on view representing sea or marine life along with other wonderful artworks. Undulating Beauty visualizes undulating sea at night. Flow represents a flow a herd or a drift of stream. Sprinkle megnifies sand particles.
Sui Park, “Flow”, Natural Essence—Motion Perceived, Morris Museum, Morristown, USA, curated by Michele Marinelli, ph.courtesy Morris Museum
Sui Park, “Undulating Beauty”, Natural Essence—Motion Perceived, Morris Museum, Morristown, USA, curated by Michele Marinelli, ph.courtesy Morris Museum
*Natural Essence – Motion Perceived | Artists: Gianluca Bianchino, Alexandra Limpert, Sui Park, Rein Triefeldt | April 10 – August 15, 2021 | Morris Museum, Morristown, USA | curated by Michele Marinelli (from the press release)
Visitors are invited to contemplate the hidden beauty and majesty of movement in nature through Natural Essence—Motion Perceived. This exhibition examines humanity’s relationship to the natural world through a captivating collection of kinetic and illusory works. The four featured artists find beauty in everyday materials, transforming them to reflect natural phenomena—from the subterranean depths below to the cosmos above.
Fiber Art is present with the works of Sui Park (South Korea, 1977). Her woven works emulate organic, three-dimensional forms that resemble and capture transitions and transformations of nature.
