Hostler Burrows is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent work by the multi-disciplinary artist Eun-Ha Paek (Korean, b. 1974), in its Los Angeles gallery. The selection of sixteen ceramic works reveals Paek’s keen fascination with how seemingly banal objects can evoke profound feeling and reaction. Through the juxtaposition of recognizable domestic forms – chairs, mirrors, vases – she creates narratives with a playful humor which process a full range of human emotion, revealing unexpected, and, at times darker undercurrents. These tableaux offer a new context in which to view these objects, while still drawing on the perception of personal experience. Through her imagined scenarios and empowered oddities, Paek’s body of work stands as a twenty-first-century reclamation of the Surrealist tradition. She describes her intention: “The same way a boulder on a hill stores potential energy, a banana peel on the floor can be the setup to a joke, storing potential “ha-has”. The setup might cause a smirk, without any real action taking place. My work uses this potential to construct narratives on the precipice of the familiar and strange; to explore grief and hope with humor.”
Eun-Ha Paek was born in Seoul, Korea and is based in New York City. She received a BFA in Film/Animation/Video from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her animated films have screened in the Guggenheim Museum, Sundance Film Festival, and venues internationally. Grants and awards include the Windgate Scholarship and Rudy Autio Grant from the Archie Bray Foundation, and a Travel and Study Grant from The Jerome Foundation. Residencies include Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Sundaymorning@ekwc, Center for Contemporary Ceramics, and Archie Bray Foundation. She is currently part-time faculty at Parsons School of Design and Greenwich House Pottery.
