Prizmism

Book excerpt: Over the last eight years Joseph Park has inserted a radical chapter to the timeless tradition of oil painting. Inspired by a J.G. Ballard story, and a tongue-in-cheek attitude toward the art's world's predilection for defined historical movements, Park developed an adjustable, custom-made easel, began studying fractals, crystal formation theory, and the permeating reality of pixels today, and from those elements formed Prizmism. Drawing inspiration from his painterly ancestors, as well as photography and sculpture, he has explored Prizmism through portraits, figures and a completed cycle shown at Elizabeth Leach Gallery in 2012 that is dazzling in its narrative, color, and surface. This is the first major monograph of Park's paintings, and focuses solely on this innovative endeavor.