“Studio Visit”, images courtesy of the artist
With imagery of buttocks and bodily fluids in private places, GaHee Park’s work brims with intimacy. The Seoul-born and NYC-based painter focuses on domesticity while incorporating characters, pets and plants to form a surreal world in comical scenarios. Her work frequently turns the tables on gender-objectification and the voyeuristic nature of pets and plants, taking her audiences through bizarre and thought-provoking depictions of sexual practices.
Nudity is ubiquitous in Park’s paintings but it must be recognised that she plays predominantly with male nudes as opposed to the usual female-centric approach. When looking at a painting like “Studio Visit”, nudity is taken to a deeper level, where the human characters are placed in a fully rounded scenario that denotes marriage and domestic life but without the excitement of monogamy. Park’s work recognises and challenges power dynamics in personal relationships from a cultural point of view, something she has made explicit in paintings such as “Butt on Face”.
Left: “Butt on Face”, right: “Butt on Face 2”, images courtesy of the artist
Park’s paintings come from personal experiences that aren’t necessarily sexual but instead familial and cultural. She often puts emphasis on her Catholic upbringing back in South Korea, noting the strong societal norms her mother enforced upon by her. Therefore, her work may come across as if she always has a theme in mind, but she’s stated: “my themes are not direct, and they’re always about experience.” An example of how deeply her work is rooted on experience, “Cat Watching People” depicts the desires that she previously suppressed for so long. And such honesty can only turn out to be this joyous.
“Butt on Face” is currently on display at New York’s Pioneer Works until 24 July 2016