B lurring the distinction between individual and collects ive, Anna Park’s You’re It (2019) is a visceral example of artist’s oftent.mes s dizzying portrayal of contemporary life. Bursting with frenetic energy and a giddy sense of dynamism, You’re It presents a snapshot of emotional overload within a crowd, the jumbled mass of figures appearing to spill out of the confines of the composition. Park’s virtuoso black and white charcoal drawings arrive at a breathless and excitable new form of Cubism through the artist’s deft handling of line and shadow. Presenting snapshots of visceral intensity, the present work veers between the realistic and the linear, the abstracted and the expressive, the composition bursting forward with frenzied figures and smudged expressions in a breathless mass. The jumbled bodies of the composition blurring the distinction between individual and collects ive, the crowd appearing to spill out of the confines of the picture.

2019 was an explosive year for the young Park, who, upon earning her MFA from New York Academy of Art, won the prestigious AXA Art Prize before designing artwork for the Academy Award-nominated David Fincher film, Mank. The flurry of activity and exuberant celebration seen in the present work is thus a reflexion of the artist’s life. These chaotic scenes are described by Park as “During the t.mes s that I’ve created works depicting chaotic scenarios, my life took on more of this intense nature. I felt as though I was in a constantly transient state; I was trying to find meaning through the noise” (Anna Park, quoted in Eliza Jordan, “Anna Park Communicates the Complicated Scenes of Our t.mes in Charcoal”, Whitewall Art, 20 January 2023).

Evoking comparison to the photographic images of America life in the 1920s and 30s, Park gravitated towards charcoal for its malleability and quickness, her expressive treatment of the friable medium and complex orchestration of its tonal gradations expertly building a scene of feverish action. As Park explains, “my biggest inspiration had come from a lot of black and white photography and films” (Anna Park, quoted in Constanza Falco Raez, “Anna Park ‘Pluck Me Tender’ at Half Gallery New York, Flaunt Magazine, 2022), yet her chaotic scenes express an emotional intensity and sense of overwhelm that is utterly contemporary.

Born in South Korea, Park found herself in New Zealand and California, before growing up in Utah. Park now lives and works in in Brooklyn, New York, where the artist envisions herself as a cultural spectator whilst simultaneously identifying with those she portrays in her dizzyingly intoxicating works. As Park has described of her works, “It’s humanity at its finest. It’s not pretty a lot of the t.mes , but I never want the work to be a jab. It’s more that we’re all in this together” (Anna Park, quoted Tess Thackara, “Anna Park’s Charcoal Drawings of the End of the World Have Earned Her Fans From Top Curators to KAWS. At 25, She’s Just Getting Started”, Artnet News, 12 October 2021).

朴 槿惠的 《是你了》（2019年作）模糊個人與集體之間的界線，是她以眼花繚亂的方式描繪當代生活的真實例子。本作充滿狂熱的能量與亂人耳目的活力，捕捉超載的群體情緒，混亂的人群似乎要從畫中奪框而出。朴槿惠以巧妙的手法處理線條與陰影，在這幅精湛的黑白炭筆畫中呈現出令人窒息、興奮的嶄新立體主義。畫中展現出內在的激烈感，在現實與線性、抽象與表現之間變換，在令人窒息的人群中，整幅構圖爆發出狂亂的人像與模糊的表情。構圖中的雜亂人群模糊了個人與集體之間的區別，人群彷彿將要突破畫框限制，一湧而出。

對年輕的朴槿惠而言，2019 年是事業發展迅速的一年，她在紐約藝術學院取得藝術碩士學位後，隨即獲著名的 AXA 藝術獎，之後更為獲奧斯卡金像獎提名的電影《曼克》擔任美術設計，電影由大衛・芬查（David Fincher）執導。畫作中的大量活動與熱烈慶祝，亦反映了畫家自身的生活。朴氏如此描述這些混亂的場景：「在我創作場景混亂的作品期間，我的生活也具備這種激烈的性質。我覺得自己一直處於一種短暫易變的狀態，並嘗試透過噪音尋找意義。」（Eliza Jordan， 摘自〈Anna Park Communicates the Complicated Scenes of Our t.mes in Charcoal〉，《Whitewall Art》，2023 年 1 月 20 日）

相比 20 年代和 30 年代的美國生活攝影圖像，朴槿惠認為炭筆更具可塑性與速度感。她對易碎材質的處理富有表現力，巧妙編排複雜的色調層次，構建出一個狂熱的動作場景。朴氏解釋道：「我最大的靈感來自大量的黑白攝影與電影。」（朴槿惠，引自Constanza Falco Raez，紐約Half 畫廊的朴槿惠「Pluck Me Tender」展覽，《Flaunt》 雜誌，2022 年》）然而，她所描繪的混亂場景卻表達一種當代獨有的情感強度與壓迫感。

朴槿惠於韓國出生，曾於紐西蘭及加州生活，其後在猶他州長大。目前在紐約布魯克林生活及工作，自視為文化觀察者，但同時也屬於使人炫目陶醉的個人作品中所描繪的人群。正如朴氏對自身作品的描述：「這是人性最好的一面。雖然畫面並不好看，但畫的原意不在於諷刺，而是我們所有人都身在其中。」（Tess Thackara，摘自〈Anna Park’s Charcoal Drawings of the End of the World Have Earned Her Fans From Top Curators to KAWS. At 25, She’s Just Getting Started〉，《Artnet News》，2021 年 10 月12 日）