Tomorrow Is Another Day | Original

Artist Statement:

Dawn is my favourite time of the day. I love the burning sky, the range of different shades of orange, pink, purple…it’s spectacular.

At dawn, I reflect on the day, and I look forward to what tomorrow will bring. And that is the time of the day when my little friends come alive and play with my imagination. These little friends are my childhood toys, they are the story tellers, and they bring my dreams and memories to life. It is the ultimate escapism.

In this painting, I am looking at my oldest friend floating away; Tokiri is usually the shy one, but this time, she is flying high, ready for an adventure. And I am as small as Thumbelina, watching her in awe.

Year: 2022

Dimensions: 400mm (w) x 550mm (h)

Medium: Oil on Canvas

As a child, Park spent many hours in her late father’s studio, watching him painting, playing with his collection of oddities and art materials.

Surrealism is a strong influence in Park's own work, which she considers as a process of exploring and mapping her psyche. She draws from a variety of sources: memories of a childhood split between two cultures; favourite toys, traditional festivals, and Korean sweets; revisited dreams, memories, and events; and the bittersweet vagaries of adulthood. Amusing and lyrical, strange, and poignant, Park's surreal and dream-like paintings invoke the sharp tang of memory. 

Joon-Hee Park has BFA and MFA from Elam School of Fine Arts, Major in Painting (Hons) 2003. She has exhibited regularly at OREXART since her graduation and has participated in numerous group and award finalists shows both in NZ, Australia, and USA. She was awarded 2015 Michael Evans Award and 2021 Walker and Hall Premier Award.