Today we’d like to introduce you to Chloe Park
I believe in following the path of curiosity. I’ve always approached my life this way, because it creates space for childlike wonder, awe and openness. There is a non rigidity in form that I appreciate within the discipline.
The beginning beginning: I started out in Health and Wellness teaching Yoga/Meditation and as a Craniosacral Massage Therapist. I would travel to places like Bali, Mexico, Thailand, Australia, etc and get sponsored to work out of retreat centers to be their resident practitioner. I had a dream. It was a really amazing time in my life where I dipped out on winters and only had summers while moving above and below the equator. I’m a beach baby and love the sun! I never thought I would live back in Western society again, but there came a time where I felt I had come to a head and needed a change. I wanted to give back to society in a different way and be a part of a culture that was bigger than my paradise up on a mountain top. I was making art at this time, but more as a hobby and not as a studio practice.
I came to LA and met with a yoga/wellness agent that was looking for instructors to offer private sessions to celebrity and HNW clientele. To this day yoga and healing is a core aspect of my life and I still work with many of the clients that I started up with during this time. Meanwhile, I had also embarked upon a career as a Prop Stylist and Set Designer in the Fashion and Entertainment Industry. I had another dream. Huge change, totally different world. I started out as an assistant and worked my way up through all the roles until years later I started getting my own projects. I moved to New York, because that’s where you go if you’re serious about working in Fashion. It’s important to work your way through all the levels. When you finally do become the head of the team, you know how to manage people and understand what it takes to perform efficiently and bring out the best in your crew. To be a leader is to empower everyone’s individual strengths within the group. It’s the only way we can become stronger as a collective.
I had the privilege of working with the best and biggest names in the industry. Legends in fashion and entertainment. Mainly because of my mentor who took me under his wing, Jack Flanagan. He trained me with his meticulous eye, work ethic, refined expectations and exquisite taste. The best in the business. I came across all different types of personalities as you can imagine (I definitely have my fair share of horror stories), but what stuck out to me the most was that it was always the biggest stars that I worked with who were the most humble and low key. It showed me that no matter what your position in life, that the most important thing is to be kind and respectful. No one is above anyone because of their job, inflated sense of self, or attachment to ego or identity. I’m glad I have this ground as my foundation of experience, because I see in culture today the confusion and desperation a lot of people have for attention and presenting themselves in a certain way that they get lost in the point, which is actually the work itself. One of the enshrouded aspects of the internet and social media is that the black hole of validation is a trap and can really ruin the purpose of life, which is to be yourself and enjoy it. The people who puff their chest out are usually the most insecure.
With art, I feel the most satisfaction and state of fulfillment. Everything I do and everyone around me is a reflection of me. With this short time on Earth of being granted X amount of years to create a life for yourself, I found a way to express myself through a medium that represents who I am and what I want to say. I’ve shown my work at Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy during Design Week and have been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, The World of Interiors and House and Garden UK. I met my mentor, Hun Chung Lee, who is someone I deeply respect as an artist and human. He has gently guided me to find my way as an Artist and Designer. I am represented by Holly Hunt in Los Angeles and continue to make work that I hope brings beauty and dialogue into people’s lives to stay curious and open. You never know, life might surprise you — it starts out as a dream and then it unveils itself.
The reality of an artist or for anyone who is walking outside of the confines and safety of society’s net or doing their own thing– no, it is definitely not smooth! The journey is full of bumps, dips, free falls, self doubt, ecstasy, satisfaction, fulfillment, connection, flow, elation, high wins and low lows. It vibrates, spirals up, down, sideways, pulses, manifests and generates. Not living in a static straight line is anxiety inducing for someone who is not used to it and a muscle that gets built over time to ride with the ever changing tides. With time and experience though, faith and trust solidifies and all the other stuff becomes white noise. Songs of Innocence and Experience, as the poet William Blake says.
Being an artist is not easy. If you don’t absolutely love making your work or feel you will die without it, it’s not worth it in my opinion. Do something else! Ha, I’m half kidding. It has taught me greater levels of empathy and grace for the unique struggles of the artist. Whether it be fulfillment in act, economic hardships or the politics of the landscape, being true to yourself in a society where everything is telling you to be someone else, at the end of the day if you truly love what you do, life has a way of figuring itself out and the energy supports you. Sure, being a nepo baby makes things easier, but you can also do it on your own. The small wins of growth are the biggest wins and pave the way towards a lifetime of growth and evolution. Your drive is what will satisfy you. Internally you will feel it. That is all the validation you need and I’d just say as a gentle reminder: to have faith in that as challenging as it may be sometimes. Pow wows with people you trust who truly understand and have gone through similar situations are huge. I’d be nowhere without my community.
Bio:
Chloe Park (b. 1986) is a Korean American sculptor, predominantly working in the medium of clay. Chloe lives and works in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Chloe Park is best known for her layered, meticulously constructed works that trace the undercurrents of systems of value, sociology, human connection and the interconnected thread of life. She is classically trained in Ikebana Ikenobo, Kyoto, Japan, with the essence of moribana infused in her practice.
She is extremely invested in the existential quest of unveiling, revealing, and becoming privy to the hidden and unspoken, behind the scenes resource extraction, displacement, circulation, and movement of events that create the structures that determine the environments in which we live.
As the world presents itself to us very partial and fragmented way at times, she is committed to the practice of revealing the reality of wholeness, beyond the fantasy- what is actually going on and the things we do not see.
An innate interest in challenging authority and social norms, as many artists are, an inner montage of realizing that one’s life can be different can be seen in the webbing of her work- whether it be the hegemonic confines that uphold society or the characteristics and traits that are more rooted in survival and compulsory by nature. A consistent undertow of what is not being said, as much as it is being said, a sustained effort and play between presence and absence surrogates the thought to serve as sculptural and physical, ceramic forms.
The honest desire for curiosity serve as a giant act of will, revelation and realization in the journey of the Self. The quality of her motivation comes from finding form in concept with the pleasure of the ideas returning, refining, reappearing, and manifesting itself in different ways, similar themes in different forms as a chord progression traveling within a song.
A sense of recognition that is pleasurable to experience from the seeing of the Self as movements in a sonata reflect the essential need for community and likeminded individuals on the common and amplified objective to affect the world in a positive way.
To get in touch for commissions and/or collaborations, please email: info@chloeparkstudio.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Likes: Malibu, hidden gem mom n pop restaurants, a big fan of the Korean spa, studio visits, my friends, a night out dancing with great music, comedy shows, the different shades of blue in the sky, and LA light on an overcast day.
Dislikes: bad drivers and people who don’t have manners— ferality (I think I just made up a word), how rude and self absorbed LA can be sometimes. I also think a $10 latte is a bit ridiculous.. c’mon it’s just coffee!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chloeparkstudio.com
- Instagram: @chloeparkstudio
Image Credits
Harry Eelman
Diana Dahyun Kim
Argel Rojo
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