Current 

H-flux Gallery is delighted to present its first exhibition of 2025, Hybrid Utopia by artist Dongyun Park, running from January 22 to February 15. This exhibition features 20 new works that reimagine the artist’s multicultural identity through a lens of utopian imagination. These works reflect Park’s effort to confront the instability of identity caused by struggles with self-awareness and cultural conflicts, transforming these challenges into art. Park moved to India to study at 16 and has since lived a nomadic life, traveling between India, the United States, and Korea. Along the way, he experienced racial discrimination and a deep sense of isolation, prompting him to contemplate the true nature of identity. Park describes his artistic practice as “a process of healing and bridging cultural conflicts,” capturing moments of harmony that transcend the boundaries of diverse cultures and races. Park’s canvases reconstruct multidimensional scenes, including everyday experiences with locals in India, memories of interacting with artists from various racial backgrounds in the United States, and a sense of communion with nature at lagoons. A significant motif in his work is the energy of fire, first felt as a child tending the hearth at his grandmother’s house. This memory was reignited during his time observing glassblowing at the Oxbow Residency in Michigan. Additionally, witnessing cremation rituals on the Ganges River in India deepened his exploration of fire’s symbolism, evoking themes of purification and transformation. Park weaves these vivid memories into his works, connecting and expanding them with vibrant colors and dynamic compositions to create his vision of utopia. Art critic Choi Kwangjin describes Park’s work as “resisting dichotomous black-and-white logic and discriminatory thinking, instead presenting cultural hybridity as an ideal world before the emergence of such divisive awareness.” He further notes that the work “yearns for a pure and primal world that predates notions of superiority and discrimination, embodying this vision through a humanistic play instinct.” Park’s work offers a vision of coexistence without discrimination. Through messages of harmony and solidarity, his art inspires a vision of a more harmonious future.