EPHEMERA & SEAT ASSIGNMENT

Posted on March 1, 2014 Updated on March 20, 2014

Many artists have been the inspiration for a number of the featured pieces being created for the upcoming 50/50LIGHT project. One of the most subtle yet profoundly striking examples is the work of Korean artist, Seung Mo Park. His transcendent pieces exemplify a most-admired technique in the formation of art: coalescing simple, utilitarian materials with visionary talent and ingenuity to create the sublime.

The end result astronomically exceeds the sum of its humble parts.

Seung Mo Park works with layer upon layer of flat stainless steel mesh sheets. Painstakingly cutting away thousands of individual wires to reveal an underlying image, he transforms something fundamentally 2D into something 3D – an illusion with great depth and presence. Most are personal, haunting and reflective, others slyly dynamic. All are breathtaking.   

www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/04/ephemeral-portraits-cut-from-layers-of-wire-mesh-by-seung-mo-park (Be sure to watch the step-by-step video documenting his process.)

Another visionary of illusion and subtlety is artist Nina Khachadorian.  Nina came to my attention as a family friend of my in-laws – who recommended I see her fascinating show here in San Francisco at the Catharine Clark Gallery in 2012 titled “Seat Assignment”. The show – produced over the span of 70 airline flights – features a multitude of self-portraits created only with A.) materials readily available to passengers on commercial airplanes – mainly bathroom paper goods; and B.) her cell phone camera.

The results are deceptively convincing works that – at first glance – appear to be reflections of 15^th century Flemish portrait subjects. But look more closely…

http://cclarkgallery.com/exhibitions/nina-katchadourian-seat-assignment-2012