Jae Kon Park: Life and Root
Jae Kon Park: Life and Root
This catalogue has been published on the occasion of the exhibition Jae Kon Park: Life and Root at Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert, March 12 – April 30, 2020. Heather James Fine Art is proud to represent the estate of Jae Kon Park. Heather James Fine Art 45188 Portola Drive Palm Desert 92260 Palm Desert · New York · San Francisco · Jackson Hole · Montecito Designed by Timothy Tompkins Text set in Proxima Nova type Front Cover: Untitled, 1992 (detail) Page 5: Untitled, 1984 (detail)
“Life and we ourselves as humans are like a mysterious, fascinating unknown entity. It is possible that once we give up to this fascination of the unknown, it is possible that we can reach a much more spacious and infinite ground as humans” – Jae Kon Park
Jae Kon Park: Life and Root Marking the start of Heather James Fine Art as worldwide representatives of the estate of Jae Kon Park, this exhibition explores the breadth of the artist’s later works. A postwar abstract modernist, Park located inspiration not in his native South Korea but in his travels through South America. Taking vision from the title of some of his last paintings, the exhibition surveys how Park found the spark of inspiration in his adopted home and how he grounded his painting in congruent cultural symbols of Latin America and Asia. Park theorized that art began with lines and dots transformed into the sacred circle. Park comprehended this communal circular motif as the Mandala, reaching across cultures as disparate as the Incan to the Chinese. Like many fellow artists and writers, the circle became both symbol and vehicle in which to explore the world, seek understanding, and delve into consciousness. Heather James Fine Art is proud to represent the estate of this pioneering artist who blazed physical and metaphorical trails into the world. Jae Kon Park was born in 1937 in Daegu, Korea, and in 1960, graduated from the College of Fine Art, Seoul National University. In 1972 Park moved his family to Latin America, starting off in Canada and working their way down through Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and finally Argentina. Park would travel for months on end throughout South America, journeying and working alongside native citizens, before returning to his family where he would paint endlessly to translate his experience and knowledge onto the canvas. Not until the 1980s would Park and his family find stability which can be seen in the paintings in the exhibition which began to burst with color. Park found his work celebrated and exhibited increasingly during the eighties in Latin America and towards the end of his life, in his country of birth of South Korea. Park’s oeuvre travels a wide range of abstraction. In a wider context, Park was part of a larger trend of non-Western artists, like South American artists Aubrey Williams and David Locke, who engaged with abstraction outside of strictly European context. There are some works like Untitled (1985) that seek to encompass the sacred circle found in cultures around the globe which Park realized in his travels through South America. Brush stroke and color combine to capture the essence of the circle and to represent the search for completeness and unity with and beyond humanity. There are other works like Birds of Spring (1990) or even About Ancient Korea (1990) and About Ancient Mexico (1990) informed by the similarities of ancient symbols of Incan, Aztec, and Korean cultures. Park has synthesized these forms in search of human origins and human consciousness. There are works freed from representative abstraction like Untitled (1984) and Untitled (1986) in which Park captures the vibrations of partitioned colors and lines to delve into life’s mysteries - something that cannot be fully understood but nevertheless is a truth that emerges from revelation. 8
Untitled, 1985 oil on burlap, 39 1/2 x 35 1/2 in.
Birds of Spring, 1990 batik on fabric, 10 3/4 x 12 1/4 in.
About Ancient Korea, 1990 batik on fabric, 9 1/4 x 13 in.
About Ancient Mexico, 1990 batik on fabric, 10 x 9 1/2 in.
Untitled, 1986 oil on canvas, 25 7/8 x 31 3/4 in.
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Art Selections
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Untitled, 1978, resin and acrylic, 23 3/4 x 23 3/4 in.
Untitled, 1979, oil on canvas, 25 1/4 x 19 1/2 in.
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14
Untitled, 1983, oil on canvas, 22 3/4 x 29 1/2 in.
Untitled, 1985, oil on canvas, 11 x 13 1/2 in.
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16
Untitled, 1985, oil on canvas, 31 3/4 x 27 1/2 in.
Untitled, 1985, oil on burlap, 39 1/2 x 35 1/2 in.
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18
Untitled, 1984, oil on canvas, 44 1/4 x 57 3/8 in.
19
Untitled, 1983, oil on canvas, 24 x 28 3/4 in.
20
21
22
Untitled, 1986, oil on canvas, 18 x 21 in.
Untitled, 1986, oil on canvas, 18 x 21 in.
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24
Untitled, 1986, oil on canvas, 21 x 18 in.
Untitled, 1986, oil on canvas, 18 x 21 in.
25
26
Untitled, 1986, oil on canvas, 21 x 18 in.
Untitled, 1986, oil on canvas, 18 x 21 in.
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28
Untitled, 1986, oil on canvas, 25 7/8 x 31 3/4 in.
29
Untitled, 1989, oil on canvas, 35 1/2 x 45 1/2 in.
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31
32
Nature’s Mechanisms, 1990, print, 6 x 7 3/4 in.
Birds of Spring, 1990, batik on fabric, 10 3/4 x 12 1/4 in.
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34
Argentinian Frogs, 1990, batik on fabric, 12 x 10 1/4 in.
About Patterns, 1990, batik on fabric, 9 1/4 x 11 in.
35
36
Twice-drawn Bird, 1990, batik on fabric, 10 1/2 x 12 in.
Twice-drawn Bird, 1990, batik on fabric, 10 1/2 x 12 in.
37
38
About Ancient Korea, 1990, batik on fabric, 9 1/4 x 13 in.
39
America Series, 1990, batik on fabric, 6 1/2 x 6 3/4 in.
40
41
42
About Ancient Mexico, 1990, batik on fabric, 10 x 9 1/2 in.
The Incan Sun, 1990, batik on fabric, 6 1/2 x 7 3/4 in.
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44
About Patterns, 1990, batik on fabric, 12 1/4 x 10 1/4 in.
Life, 1990, batik on fabric, 9 1/2 x 10 3/4 in.
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46
The Mystery of America, 1990, batik on fabric, 6 x 8 1/4 in.
Untitled, 1990. ink on paper, 10 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.
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48
The Mystery Series, 1990, ink on paper, 13 3/4 x 12 1/2 in.
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America Series, 1990, ink on paper, 13 3/4 x 12 1/2 in.
50
51
52
The Incan Sun, 1990, ink on paper, 10 3/4 x 9 1/4 in.
The Incan Sun, 1990, ink on paper, 10 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.
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54
About Ancient Korea, 1990, batik on fabric, 11 3/4 x 12 1/2 in.
Mystery of the Artic, 1990, ink on paper, 14 x 12 1/2 in.
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56
Untitled, 1991, oil on canvas, 24 x 28 3/4 in.
Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 24 x 28 3/4 in.
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58
Life and Roots, 1992, oil on canvas, 28 x 20 1/2 in.
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Life and Roots, 1992, oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 35 1/2 in.
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61
62
Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 35 1/2 in.
Life and Roots, 1992, oil on canvas, 25 1/2 x 20 5/8 in.
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64
Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 34 x 43 1/4 in.
Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 35 1/4 x 46 in.
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66
Untitled, 1992, oIl on canvas, 52 1/4 x 64 1/2 in.
Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 35 1/2 in.
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68
Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 5 1/4 x 55 1/2 in.
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Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 45 3/4 x 35 1/2 in.
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71
72
Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 24 x 31 in.
Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 38 x 51 in.
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74
Untitled, 1992, oil on canvas, 36 x 46 in.
Untitled, 1993, oil on canvas, 51 1/4 x 64 in.
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76
Untitled, 1993, oil on canvas, 24 x 28 1/2 in.
Untitled, 1993, oil on canvas, 36 x 45 1/2 in.
77
“It is believed that once a work of art has been separated from its creator, it becomes an independent body and forms a life with the person appreciating it. People who are interested in art are enthusiasts and as they delve into a piece in agreement with their own thoughts and feelings, they create a new mysterious life, thus becoming another creator of art� – Jae Kon Park
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