Now showing at Honfleur Gallery: 'Parallels: Sculptures & Installations' by Nara Park

Honfleur Gallery, 1241 Good Hope Rd SE

Parallels: Sculptures & Installations by Nara Park 

Exhibit Dates: May 9 – June 27

In the works that make up Parallels, land and water are highlighted in different contexts—from a waterfall to a fish tank—that connect across common forms, materials, and a shared ephemerality. Nara Park contemplates the parallels between the cycle of life as demonstrated by varying forms of nature. The way rocks are formed, the way water flows and freezes, and the way moss grows—these processes are not very different from each other. Similar, too, are their processes of decay. 

Park’s interpretation of nature is somewhat unusual in her sculptures and installations. She uses packaging boxes that she custom-designs to resemble rocks and plants as false representations of nature. The surface of the boxes are printed with patterns of stone or plants. Her items of mass-reproducible nature exemplify our contemporary desire to mimic nature in a quick and convenient way. She explores how far she can push the boundaries of imitation in order to inspire reverence and respect for its visual effect. She does not aim to trick the viewer with the faux, but rather generate life from it. 

In Park’s fabrications, the distinction between reality and representation vanishes. Some of her works incorporate actual water which is combined with her boxes evoking sacredness with irony. The incorporation of water in these simulations of nature takes into consideration the practical and spiritual roles it plays as an essential element. There is admiration and hope for life where there is water. Park’s work allows the viewer to explore the symbolic meanings of water that are parallel to life.