In the past, Chaerin Park centered her works around the fear and aesthetic that arise while confronting the incomprehensibility of nature. During her time as a student in Vienna, however, she realized that the diversity of people around her were in fact as incomprehensible as nature itself.

Since relocating to Vienna, Chaerin has often felt as though the common sense she once knew in Korea is no longer valid. Her works reflect a pervasive complex of inadequacy, the need to constantly prove herself, and the lingering concern that her sense of self may eventually vanish without a trace. For Chaerin, being submerged by a variety of languages, some unknown, has a way of eliciting a type of anxiety, as if stranded alone in some uninhabited forest. While she longs to understand these voices, and they struggle to understand her, a seed of sadness grows from the haunting prospect of never truly understanding one another at all.

Living overseas conjures up a sensation of being bound to one’s physical body, unable to escape the burdensome existence of being human. As such, Chaerin’s perennially mobile subjects opt to become a part of nature, morphologically entwined like trees in the woods. Nonetheless, despite their efforts to seek quiet and interconnected lives as plants, they continue to scream with blood clots as if destined to carry the traumas of life as a physical being. As a visualization of inner turmoil, Chaerin’s figures are often found alone and in desperate situations without context, representing the sense of non belonging and instability she herself has endured. Rather than run for the hills, the act of creation compels her to come to terms with negative emotions, visceral pain, and the sheer necessity of empathizing with those around.

Like composing a diary entry, Chaerin paints on days when a particular human encounter or moment in nature leaves a lasting impression on her life. As she points out, “I am not the one who uses the paint; rather, the paint and I create the work together.” Her palette, which begins with essential primary colors, gradually transforms into random variants as hues mix continuously on a single brush. Tempted by the intellectual desire to eliminate complexity and find comfort the easy way, placing herself on an equal footing with the paint enables her to depict human forms and natural objects without judgment as they truly are, and as they genuinely aspire to be.

Ton in ton series 1, 2023, Oil on canvas, 80_120cm (1)

In the Grape Forest (2023). Acrylic on Canvas. 100 x 80cm.

Untitled (Tree Person) (2023). Oil on Canvas. 160 x 120cm.

Ton in Ton Series 2 (2023). Oil on Canvas. 160 x 130cm.

Discover more of Chaerin’s works in Issue 5 of our magazine!