A little talk-New York Painting

The artist Park Jieun’s work, most of all, impresses viewers with dynamic, powerful and raw brushstrokes like one of the Wild and Heterodox School of Ming Paintings. Her explosive, swift brushwork makes Jackson Pollock’s action paintings look almost neat and quiet. Such energetic and exuberant brushstrokes could make one wonder how it could possibly blend in with city night scapes. The artist was inspired by the view of Prague at night seen from the city hall tower during her solo trip and since then she started painting cityscapes and in particular night sceneries. This could explain a view of both a city dweller and a wandering traveller found in her work. While travelling, we often encounter the crippling feeling of loneliness in the concrete jungle, a crowded forest of skyscrapers. Her rough brushstrokes embody such emotions in an abstract manner. She paints cities realistically in dark ink strokes and records her personal travel memories of places, vibes, weather and many other things. As a result, Park Jieun’s paintings evoke a sense of excitement and a strange solitude that an unexpected discovery of a charming city during a trip may give. “I use white Korean paper and black Chinese ink to create a dramatic contrast and portray exquisite cityscapes on rough and broad brush marks in order to stress the contrast between classic and contemporary”, the artist explained. City paintings in general have a packed and dense composition whereas Park Jieun’s work shows an overwhelmingly large amount of blank space. Although the striking contrast of dark ink on white background suggests as if something thrilling is about to happen, the night landscape depicted on the ink brushstrokes is so beautiful and tranquil that it heightens the pictorial drama. Like silence before the storm, her paintings seem to represent the tension that comes from the city’s double sides where order and disorder, balance and imbalance and tradition and contemporary coexist. To those who live in and pass by, a city is probably a space where rough and harsh everyday happenings take place. However, no matter how dark the night gets, the faintest light could end the darkness. The light, therefore, serves as both a signpost and a beacon of hope. Even the most confusing and secular city, a city at night is seductive and beautiful.