Different Little Fires (VSF) is delighted to present OFF THE CLOCK, a solo exhibition of new function by Wendy Park at the gallery’s Los Angeles area. The exhibition provides collectively ten paintings and debuts an augmented fact encounter (AR) that investigates and reconstructs Park’s childhood recollections of rising up as the daughter of Korean immigrants in Larger Los Angeles throughout the 1980s-90s. Her functions spend homage to her late father, mom, and Southern California’s indoor commerce lifestyle. The new operates function humble objects that emphasize her parent’s fleeting moments of leisure as doing the job-course suppliers.
Accessories from the Park spouse and children organizations juxtapose objects of self-care, as viewed in paintings Tiger Balm Sign up, Levis Stock, and Coronary heart Apples and Hangars. Park vividly remembers witnessing her mom standing on her ft all day behind the register or functioning close to to refill the apparel stock. She recollects the scent of Tiger Balm made use of to soothe her mother’s aching muscle tissue, the ample new fruit on a desk that underlined her mother’s enjoy, and an open up sign-up that was accessible for other distributors to split change for their corporations.
Savored moments of relaxation and link are also shared in Park’s new system of perform. The exhibition’s titular work, OFF THE CLOCK, captures the artist’s father’s submit-operate program. He would return house, sit on the Korean silk floor pillow up coming to the abalone shell table, and switch on the Television to Korean news. Rounding out his evening plan, her father liked a cigarette and nightcap of Crown Royal, which Park recollects always experienced 3 ice cubes. Crown Royal Supplies depicts the whiskey’s legendary purple bag repurposed as a pencil pouch, a nod to her family’s resourcefulness, immigrant routines, and Park’s ongoing tactic to reusing and recycling in her apply.
Park’s new body of work delivers an included layer of nuance by recreating memories that extend past her unconscious and personal narrative. In Poker Story, she illustrates her father’s practical experience for the duration of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, when neighboring Korean sellers would acquire shifts on the roof to guard the swap satisfy building from looters. Involving their short periods of rest and action, they would engage in poker games to pass the time. The three will work from the Hwatu series talk to the Korean flower card video game she uncovered from her father. Park remembers playing the match on her father’s wool blanket and recollects the stark distinction in between the red playing cards and army inexperienced material. Shin Raymun and cigarettes accessorize the card recreation, speaking to the enjoyable mood of the gathering and times of comfort. Her experimental AR project invitations you to be part of in the exciting.
OFF THE CLOCK reveals a collection of get the job done that feels familiar nonetheless distant, as massive-scale compositions develop into fractured into vivid, vibrant windows of Park’s childhood reminiscences. Her will work introduce unique social and cultural backdrops of escalating up as an Asian-American in Los Angeles throughout the 1990s. By bringing daily objects and familial routines into central focus, Park weaves an intimate narrative, shelling out homage to her dad and mom and reminding the viewer of the electrical power of one’s very own story in shaping how we fully grasp and respect the daily.
