"Organic Patterns"

The work of Sharon Park could perhaps be summed up in the phrase "no two snowflakes are alike." The differences, which occur between formations sharing the same category, Park shows, are largely dependent on space and time. The conditions in which a new petal germinates, or is glued, is always different from the conditions of its predecessors. The space occupied, for example, is unavoidably different. As time passes, minute differences become more and more evident in the organic. A single petal might be indistinguishable from another, but a collection of a dozen petals will be discernibly different from another collection of a dozen petals.

Park shows the malleability of nature and how identical genetic codes never have identical manifestations. Mostly monochromatic, her pieces emphasize the varied textures, which, without variation, might resemble a party dress or a disco ball. And despite the choice to limit her palette, Park manages to give her work life. Her pieces seem pristine rather than sterile. It is her intimacy with her materials that allow her to accomplish such a feat.

-Eugene Hwang