Juxtapoz Magazine – Anna Park’s Bold New Direction in “Mirror Shy”
There was a thing telling that Anna Park disclosed this 7 days as she opened her solo show, Mirror Shy, at Blum and Poe. “When I moved to NYC, there was just so substantially likely on, and I was using it all in and portray that emotion. I imagine my new do the job is absorbing something different now.” And, in an instant, you can see the transform. Absent is the tornado of imagery, a outstanding and dizzying array of pop-society and dionysian satisfaction of her earlier function, and right here we see a cinematic and darkly humorous entire body of do the job of becoming a woman in the artwork world and the planet at huge. The will work are leaner, far more immediate, a lot more cheeky, extra in the custom of American cinema and advertisement of the mid-20th century.
As the gallery notes, “Bringing the language of promotion into the fold of her apply, Park furthers her self-conscious investigations into a society of commodity and surveillance. In moments of stillness that originate from a viewpoint rooted in empathy for her topics, Mirror Shy signals to the viewer a newfound sense of command whilst continuing to deal with overarching themes in the artist’s oeuvre these kinds of as internal conflict, longing, and the one particular amongst the quite a few. This exhibition marks a change in Park’s narrative voice—arriving at the centre of a earth that she experienced previously looked in on from afar, she is now a participant in that which she actively critiques. “
It feels practically fantastic that at the exact time Park is opening her new solo present with a totally new entire body of function, her very first museum exhibition is on show at SCAD MOA featuring some of her strongest work to date in her former operates. The charcoal operates she experienced been demonstrating were being masterful as they were being a testomony to the toughness of the paper she was applying. Her in Mirror Shy, Park seems to dedicate even a lot more like for paper, as she manipulates each individual area of her new do the job with levels of ink, acrylic, charcoal, and paper. The outcomes may well appear to be like a stipped-again overall body of do the job, but they are akin to how very well the artist utilizes components to convey to a story. If this is her new voice, she built certain to carry older conversations to the fold. A fantastic show, certainly. —Evan Pricco