Hwa Jin Park

‘Moments, Those Lingering Memories’

 

Communion with Nature Nature……

Not only is it my most beloved sanctuary, but it has been my endlessly flowing stream of awareness. I do not approach it to gain; it has always been an existence close to me - my other ‘self’. Nature is already in me, and within it is where I commune with my emotions. Such communion naturally finds its way onto my canvas. The things nature presents to me are not grandiose or spectacular. Rather, they are the insignificant creatures that leave this world just as quickly as they came, or the moments that - in a blink of an eye - pass by all too soon. And though they may seem strong and or beautiful, with a closer look, one finds a whole other world within. Just as I meet people and become acquainted with them, I become closer to nature. There are the stains left behind by chatty raindrops, small and large; the branches that sway to and fro in the wind; the desperation of fragile dandelion seeds, ever-uncertain of when they will be whisked away with the breeze; the grace of the leaf that gently comes to perch upon a quiet pond; the strain and restlessness of a flower waiting to burst open into bloom; green moss that grows in a nook somewhere; the pureness of clustered young sprouts; the calm that envelopes the air at dawn; the soft and tender plants in the lake and their delicate movements… Though these moments are brief, they become precious memories to me. Nature and its movement, which quietly offer me so many emotions, are illustrated countless times inside me and their images are uncovered in new shapes and colors.

Watercolor

Like all artists, I, too, am always concerned about my choice of material. Finding a medium that best resembles nature and with which I can best express myself is not an easy task, especially these days when there is a sea of materials from which to choose. That is why perhaps my choosing of watercolors on paper may seem a bit hackneyed. What I aim to capture is the pureness of nature. The pure and clean feel of watercolors and the ever so familiar paper - for me it was a rediscovery of materials through which I could express my vision most accurately. Brushstrokes upon brushstrokes create new colors, and the translucent spaces of those colors are, without a doubt, captivating. The fluidity of water and the stains that naturally occur resemble nature and its organic manner. Stroke speed, consistency, drying speed, etc., are just a few of the numerous traits of watercolors which bear forth so many different shapes and images. And it is through the harmony of such traits that I am able to discover all of my feeling and experiences in nature on paper, time and again.

Process

Searching for natural lines, colors and compositions has been both my greatest challenge as well as my greatest joy. My emotions and memories have slowly become new and organic images through the numerous lines and shapes I have borrowed from nature. Some are expressed as if magnified under a microscope; then there are those that have been deconstructed element by element, while others have been expressed as they are without distortion. I find this process in which the images of nature become abstract quite interesting. Small and large blotches, various round shapes, numerous lines - such shapes, such symbols, have become the alphabet of my work through which I slowly tell my various stories on paper. The backgrounds of my works are the white papers, themselves. The white paper is an impeccable background - a space of infinite creativity in which I am able to break free from the limitations that backgrounds bring and breathe freely, so that I am no longer looking into a designated space, but I am already in it. My pieces are not empty spaces in want of being filled; in them, there is the water, the wind, the smell and stirring of the air, and all the things invisible to the eye, but that can be felt and imagined within. Hopefully one can understand the value of emptiness and commune with nature through my painting.