06.09.2022 | Faust-Kultur Frankfurt
The Earth Project
Kejoo Park at Kunstverein Familie Montez
The “Earth Project” by American-Korean artist Kejoo Park will be inaugurated at the Kunstverein Familie Montez on June 9, 2022. With this comprehensive artwork, which includes a painting exhibition and land art, she invites reflection on nature. She has commissioned the construction of a nine-meter-long semicircular stone mound made of light stones in the outdoor area, which, along with an equally large semicircular water surface inside, forms a symbolic circle of unity. Inspired by Gustav Mahler’s composition “Das Lied von der Erde” (The Song of the Earth), the painter, architect and landscape architect explores the highs and lows of human existence and relates them to the experience of nature.
Meditative, contemplative, yet full of passion – these are the principles of Kejoo Park’s “Earth Project.” From June 9, the comprehensive artwork, consisting of a painting exhibition and a two-part installation, will be on display at the Kunstverein Familie Montez. Through painting and land art, she invites reflection on nature. In front of the Kunstverein, Kejoo Park has created a semicircular, nine-meter-long stone mound, which, together with an equally large semicircular water surface in the exhibition hall, forms a symbolic circle of unity. The motto of the participatory art project is to experience oneself as part of nature. Despite the damage and fragility of our Earth, for Park, it is the source of all energy.
With the “Earth Project,” Kejoo Park, an acclaimed artist trained as a painter, architect and landscape architect, and who has exhibited in New York, Zurich and Munich, ventures into new territory. This is her first exhibition combining painting and land art. She can draw on her experience working with Peter Walker, the landscape architect who helped design Ground Zero in New York.
Meticulous Preparations
The preparations for the “Earth Project” were extensive. The stone ensemble, made of light regional stones, required meticulous planning. The convex installation features a slightly elevated stone mound with a radius of four and a half meters. The edge is level with the ground. In the center of the mound, white steam rises as a symbol of energy. “When the twilight falls on the rising steam in the evening, it becomes a mystical place,” she believes.
“Duality determines our world: nature and urbanity, inside and outside, silence and activity,” Park says. The semicircular water surface inside the Kunstverein also serves as a symbol for this duality, interacting with the stone mound outside to form a complete circle.
Inspired by Gustav Mahler’s six songs of the Earth Cycle, Kejoo Park has created her large-format paintings. The abstract works, produced using mixed media on canvas, refer to existential life experiences. The technique is impressive and involves many processes. The foundation consists of her photographs of natural moments, which she edits on the computer along with her drawings and then prints onto canvas. She then adds acrylic paint and ink as a painter. A final finish gives the paintings a silver shimmer, linking them to the white steam of the Earth installation.
“As a painter and landscape architect, I am pleased to offer moments of silence, reflection and pause to the dynamic city of Frankfurt with ‘The Earth Project’,” says Kejoo Park. Several accompanying events will further encourage engagement with nature. Among them is a “Silent March for the Earth” planned for June 26, where students from the Anna Schmidt School will walk with white lanterns from Römer to Kunstverein Montez.