Park seong yul

Installation View (1)

The invitational exhibition of Park Sung-Yeol, organized by Space NAMU Gallery Aurora, begins with the question: “How is existence commemorated?” Through monumental faces, animals, and grand architectural structures, the artist explores memory—not as a record fixed in the past, but as something that continues to live and move in the present. The figures on the canvas gaze back at the viewer in silence, prompting a renewed inquiry into the methods of commemoration and the meaning of existence.

Park seong yul, Image, 163x97cm, oil on canvas, 2025

Grounded in the solid formal structure and profound realism of Russian Realism, Park Sung-Yeol has developed his practice with a strong sense of form and depth. In recent years, he has expanded the tension within his compositions by introducing expressionistic abstract backgrounds. Rather than fixing heroes and victories like traditional monuments, his figures reveal cracks, erosion, and instability. They resemble faces that have endured the weight of time, rather than expressions of triumph.

Park seong yul, Image, 163x97cm, oil on canvas, 2025

If the human face symbolizes history and civilization, animals such as horses, wolves, gorillas, and lions represent instinct and the archetype of life. These two realms overlap within a single canvas, forming multilayered meanings. By superimposing them within the same pictorial space, a heightened sense of tension emerges.

Park seong yul, Image, 60.6×60.6cm, oil on canvas, 2026

The artist’s distinctive thick impasto, repetitive layering, and scraping processes reveal the sedimentation of time, emphasizing “process” over “completion.” Instead of delivering a definitive message, he proposes a space that evokes each viewer’s own memories, inviting them to question for themselves what is worthy of remembrance and commemoration.

Installation View (2)

This exhibition demonstrates the expanding possibilities of contemporary figurative painting and stands as a space for reflection on the meanings of existence and commemoration.