David Hartt, Harold Mendez, Rim Park
Everyday Nature brings together, for the first time, works by David Hartt, Harold Mendez, and Rim Park that investigate our contemporary relationship with images and the environment. The three featured artists use images as raw material—in the same manner that metal, wood, or clay can be shaped—to address our media-saturated lives. Set against the dramatic environmental and societal shifts exacerbated by climate change, these artists aim to draw viewers back into the world. Their works address the beauty and fragility of where we live and our intimate relationships with place. By focusing on sections of foliage, common houseplants, and other organic forms, Hartt, Mendez, and Park create deeply poetic works imbued with elegance and urgency, ingeniously spanning mediums, ranging from drawing and etching to sculpture and tapestry.
The exhibition is organized by Christopher Y. Lew and Jee-Young Maeng for C/O: Curatorial Office.
Christopher Y. Lew is founder of C/O: Curatorial Office, a curatorial consulting firm. He has over 15 years of museum experience, including as a former curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Cole Akers produces exhibitions, performances, public programs, and partnerships across the fields of art, design, and architecture. Working from New York and Los Angeles, he is Curator & Associate Director of Special Projects at The Glass House.
Jee Young Maeng explores the intersection of visual arts and other fields through various projects such as exhibitions, public programs, and publications. She has studied and worked in Seoul and New York and collaborates with both commercial and non-commercial sectors. She is currently working as an independent curator in Seoul.
David Hartt creates work that unpacks the social, cultural, and economic complexities of his various subjects. He explores how historic ideas and ideals persist or transform over time. He is an Associate Professor, in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.
Harold Mendez (b.1977, Chicago; lives and works in Los Angeles), a first-generation American of Colombian and Mexican heritage, delves into the intricate narratives that have shaped the Americas, touching upon the lives affected by migration, exchange, violence, and spiritual exploration. Across his practice, which encompasses image-based media, sculpture, and installation, Mendez navigates expansive notions of embodiment, exploring themes of commemoration, transformation, and the passage of time. His poetic and materially diverse works offer poignant reflections on history and identity, inviting viewers to contemplate the complexities of the human experience.
Rim Park (b. 1998, Seoul; lives and works in Seoul) attentively studies biological changes happening on the periphery of daily life and transforms them into the art form between painting and sculpture. For her, nature indicates vitality and activity that cannot be easily described with precise language. Park’s works are informed by a wide range of natural forms, such as the curves of tree branches or bones, the intricate structures of fungi viewed through a microscope, or the bloom of mold stains found on wallpaper.
Image Credits
Exhibition Thumbnail Image (in the same sequence as the images shown)Installation view of Everyday Nature at Salon Hannam 2024, 4–14 September, 2024