Photo : Guillaume Ziccarelli, courtesy of the artist & Perrotin, New York
Fingers poking through peep holes, animals lounging comfortably, innumerable martini cocktails, and an abundance of luscious fruit are only but a few of the recurring motifs in GaHee Park’s surreal painted scenes. Her work is elegant and humorous, and it is deceptively complex. Undeniably, there is a seeming effortlessness to her paintings — which she achieves by working obsessively. It takes her several weeks to complete a single painting. Before committing to a canvas, she maps and sorts out the composition of each piece via multiple preparatory drawings. This methodology allows her to establish the different layers of meaning that will compose the image, juxtaposing dissonant symbols within a single cohesive surface.
