Ji-Yeon Park (MFA 2005)
I am interested in hybrid forms: bodies, aliens, and animal/human combinations. We are living these days in an enormously complicated world, which is tangled with propaganda and consumerism. Other issues such as nature versus nurture and organic substance versus artificiality create further ironies. Even though technology is improving and we are benefiting from the ‘process’ of civilization, our lives are not healthy or peaceful, but humiliating. My hybrid creatures respond to this reality. Currently, I approach my art in two ways-- installation and kinetic sculpture. I make hybrid objects, which combine egg- shaped bodies with huge human ears, and the bodies are connected to electrical outlets by several types of extensions like wires, power strips and cords. Mostly, I work with felt and sometimes put a motor inside the bodies to make their ears move. The huge human ears represent the passiveness of communication from my personal experience, as I am unable to speak but listen in foreign country. The hybrid forms show the devastation of the human soul and lack of communication in modern society. They convey both serious political issues and humor.