Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chunbum Park. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chunbum, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I believe that the path that I took as an artist is a gift to me, which is why I would not exchange my life trajectory with another person’s. My happiness as an artist comes down to three factors: whether I enjoy the process of creation, what is the quality or the outcome of the work, and how it is received or evaluated. There is no question that I enjoy the process of painting, photography, and modeling very much. I enjoy being creative and expressing myself and my vision onto a particular medium, whether it is painting or photography. And am also very proud of the outcome of my work in terms of its quality. I guess I am not completely satisfied with the reception of my work, however, because I am having some difficulty getting into prestigious exhibition opportunities and publications (which may be true for many other artists as well). Also, some people appear to suspect that my art has to do with the male gaze (which is a male-centric way of looking at women that considers women as objects of beauty) even though I identify as a genderfluid person.

I do sometimes wonder if I would be happier to have a regular job (I do various part-time jobs). My art comes first, however, and I know that I would be so completely exhausted from having a regular 9 to 5 job that I would not be able to create anymore.

So the answer to the question is that I am very happy to be an artist, even if not everything is perfect.

Chunbum, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Art is not only about expressing oneself but also contributing to solving Earth’s and humankind’s manifold problems. My paintings and performative photography with the problems that I’ve been dealing with throughout my life, including the question of gender, and race and physical beauty,

What is a man and a woman? Can there be different types of gender expression beyond this traditional, binary system of gender? Scholars such as Judith Butler have given us the groundwork for us to deal and play with these ideas, such as that gender is performative. Performativity means that the person enacts a series of repeated performances that commits the person into the particular gender role and identity.

What about race and physical beauty? Why does Hollywood whitewash characters that are originally non-white, and why does Japanese anime rely heavily on Caucasian or Caucasian-inspired features, such as the narrow and pointy nose, large colored eyes with double eyelids, colored hair, and the angular facial structure that opposes the generally roundness of the traditional Northeast Asian head? Does the white beauty occupy an iconic center, and, if so, what can be done to challenge this inequality? Is it racist stereotyping to say that Northeast Asian women generally have smaller breasts and less wide hips, and Northeast Asian men have small penises? What is left of the Northeast Asians beauty if we reject the features of the majority of Northeast Asians to conveniently suit our own racist, whitewashed preferences for beauty that is racialized to prefer white features? On the other hand, should we restrict the depiction of the Northeast Asian beauty to the features that define the majority of Northeast Asians? What is physical beauty if it is of the majority and common?

These are the questions that concern me in the making of my art.

I originally got into painting in the first semester of my sophomore year at the University of Rochester (in 2010), when I realized what I really wanted to study was not history but art. After selling a beautiful but partly unfinished pastel drawing (that I had worked on for over a year) to the dormitory janitor for $10, I left university and applied to art schools. I initially went to the Rhode Island School of Design to study painting in 2011, where I met a close friend who would eventually ghost me. After a series of events that complicated my situation and wellbeing at the school, I took voluntary leave and studied painting for several years on my own. I also studied on and off at the Art Students League of NY, and eventually I returned to matriculated study at the School of Visual Arts in 2017. I completed my Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in 2020 and went onto Master’s program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where I changed my pronouns to they/theirs/them. I received the terminal degree in Fine Arts Studio in 2022.

I am still painting, but I also do performative photography, where I dress and perform the ideal feminine role in front of the camera. I also write art exhibition reviews for the New Visionary Magazine as a staff writer.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

There needs to be a better way of nurturing emerging artists who may not have the connection or the access to wealthy collectors to sustain their practice. Perhaps cities that have half of their office spaces empty after COVID should convert these spaces to art studio and galleries with the goal of providing opportunities for the emerging and mid-career artists. Or perhaps there should be something like a universal basic income system for artists, who can register for a small monthly stipend that repeats for 5 ~ 10 years. The current environment so harshly favors the ultra wealthy or the ultra lucky (those who get noticed by collectors and galleries) that about 90% of the art graduates quit making art after they graduate from school.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

While I have delved into making NFTs myself briefly, I found that the NFT market has been hollow in content and without substance. First of all, the NFT system does not store the actual digital file but only refers to the web address of the digital file that is stored online. Secondly, instead of promoting empowering messages and questioning the structures of money and power, NFT artists have, for the most part, made crappy, uninspiring garbage as their art, buying into the corrupting roles of money and power within society.

The NFT system has a potential for digital artists to find income and the means to sustaining their practice. Prior to NFTs people could copy-paste the JPEG files of their digital works without any interest in ownership. Had people buying and selling NFTs made better choices in their creations and their purchases, entirely different artworks exhibiting greater integrity and sincerity would be attracting more attention in the marketplace. This is not the case, however.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chunbumpark.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chun.park.7/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/chunbumpark.photos/

Image Credits
Chunbum Park