[INTERVIEW] Artist Park Mee-na's abstract color stripes reflect Korean society's economic progress

Painter Park Mee-na poses in front of her "2023-Red-TV Unit" (2023), which is on view as part of her solo exhibition, "Nine Colors & Nine Furniture," at the Atelier Hermes in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. Courtesy of Fondation d'entreprise Hermes

Painter's latest solo show, "Nine Colors & Nine Furniture," unfolds at Atelier Hermes

By Park Han-sol

It all began with a phone call from out of nowhere.

In the early 2000s, Park Mee-na, fresh out of graduate school, was navigating her way to become a full-time artist in Seoul when her phone rang one day. On the other side of the line was a gallerist she knew with an unusual query: Did she by any chance have any "orange paintings?"

At the time, she did have one canvas work featuring a house in an abstract rectangular field of neon orange and yellow. Hearing this, the art dealer swiftly moved on to the next set of questions: Is it horizontal or vertical? If it is vertical, can it be turned sideways?

"I told them the painting in question was, in fact, vertical, and rotating it would have made the image of the house lie on its side," the artist recalled in a recent interview with The Korea Times. "'Oh, that wouldn't work then,' they replied."

Their jarring conversation ended just as abruptly as it started.

"At art schools, I would explore the fundamental meaning of art in society and defend the role of paintings as more than just home decor accessories. But this encounter blew my mind," she noted. "Was my work being defined solely by its color scheme and orientation? Was this the reality I was faced with?"

But instead of feeling defeated, Park decided to channel her shock into a creative pursuit ― a consciously self-referential one at that.

Park Mee-na's "2023-Orange-Sofa" (2023) / Courtesy of Fondation d'entreprise Hermes

She began by collecting every single type of orange paint available on the domestic market ― from wholesale suppliers to retailers ― to question what the gallerist on the phone meant by "orange painting." After amassing all the acrylic paints, she used them one by one in alphabetical order to produce 3-centimeter-wide stripes on canvas.

Accompanying these stripes underneath was a life-size diagram of a two-seater sofa.

"I thought to myself that the dealer must have been looking for a horizontal painting that can be hung above a certain piece of furniture. I imagined it to be a couch and hence its inclusion on canvas," she said.

Thus, her "Orange Painting" (2002-03), which is hyper-aware of how a work of art can be consumed by a collector after its sale, was born.

The project evolved into a much more ambitious, meta-textual series in the following year, whereby the artist collected all 632 available paints from the nine color categories ― black, blue, green, gray, orange, red, violet, white and yellow.

There was one clear rule she established when procuring the paints on the market ― that each of their names must contain the word corresponding to the respective colors. For instance, even if the single pigment color appeared light pink to the naked eye, she would include it in her blue painting because the manufacturer had named it "Iridescent Violet Blue."

Park Mee-na's "2023-Blue-Bed" (2023) / Courtesy of Fondation d'entreprise Hermes

She then paired the color stripes with furniture diagrams such as beds, vanity tables and wardrobes.

Entitled "Nine Colors and Furniture" (2004), the series became an intriguing visual rendition of a "virtual model home," reminiscent of Seoul apartments commonly occupied by the middle-class, prospective art patrons in Korea at the time.

This reference became even more obvious with the sizes of each piece as she limited the height of the canvas to 227 centimeters ― so that it can fit the standard apartment complexes in the city's Gangnam District with a typical ceiling height of 230 centimeters.

And nearly two decades later, Park has decided to revisit her series under a slightly tweaked title, "Nine Colors & Nine Furniture." The self-aware nature of her works is further highlighted by the fact that they are now exhibited at the Atelier Hermes, nestled within the French luxury design house's flagship store in the heart of southern Seoul's upmarket neighborhood ― the epitome of conspicuous consumption.

Installation view of Park Mee-na's solo exhibition, "Nine Colors & Nine Furniture," at the Atelier Hermes / Courtesy of Fondation d'entreprise Hermes

"It has been fascinating to observe how my pieces, which pair the entire range of paints commercially available in Korea with diagrams of popular furniture, indirectly reflect our consumption trends, housing culture, tastes and values of the time," the painter noted.

"By recreating the works, I wanted to see if I could visualize the changes of these socioeconomic phenomena that have taken place over the last 19 years."

As a result, while the formal characteristics of her latest nine-part series remain nearly identical to the 2004 one, there are noteworthy differences at play.

One rather obvious change is the sheer number of paints the artist was able to procure and use ― 632 in 2004 versus 1,134 in 2023.

"Paints are like any consumer goods; if they don't sell well on a certain market, they will naturally stop being imported or get discontinued," she explained. The steep rise in their numbers readily up for sale in Korea today, therefore, implies that people have higher living standards.

These economic changes have also affected the size of luxury apartments in Seoul in a way ― and consequently, the dimension of her canvases.

After discovering that the ceiling height of deluxe complexes in the city's upscale neighborhood of Hannam-dong has increased by at least 30 centimeters, Park made her painting follow suit, raising its height to 257 centimeters.

Park Mee-na's "2023-Yellow-Wardrobe" (2023) / Courtesy of Fondation d'entreprise Hermes

Park Mee-na's "2023-Green-Sofa" (2023) / Courtesy of Fondation d'entreprise Hermes

With the popularization of social media since the 2010s, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic that has brought a fundamental change to people's attitude toward interior design, high-end furniture brands have become much more familiar to the public.

Hence, the paintings on view feature diagrams of sought-after designer furniture ― coffee tables, sofas, TV cabinets, ottomans, etc. ― which are more curved and organically shaped than the ones in demand from two decades ago, according to the artist.

When asked if she would consider revisiting the series in another 20 years, Park said that it depends entirely on how effective the paints would continue to serve as an intriguing socioeconomic indicator.

"If there is something that's visibly worth comparing, like changes in tastes in furniture, apartments, or paints themselves, then maybe. But deep down in my heart, I also feel like this might be my last series."

"Nine Colors & Nine Furniture" runs through Oct. 8 at the Atelier Hermes. Admission is free.