ARTist
BEN PARK (박병웅)
In this body of work, I began by collecting soot—blackened traces of candle flame—onto thick paper. For me, this soot is not just residue, but memory: particles of darkness that floated in silence before the universe found its voice. When rain touches the surface, it leaves behind spontaneous marks—cosmic echoes, like galaxies forming from chaos. Some arrive with storm and force; others whisper in soft droplets. What emerges is not just image, but remembrance—of a time before time, of the pulse that stirred the beginning.
As I move from the cosmos to the everyday, I find myself drawn to particles of light—빛의 입자—that dance across the forms around us. Whether it’s a flower, a vessel, or the quiet shape of a person, I try to paint the living light that surrounds them—the shimmer, the murmur, the breath. To me, everything is alive with energy. Through these paintings, I hope to offer a small window into that deeper reality—where joy, tenderness, and light connect all things in a quiet, sacred dance.
biography
Group Exhibition (2025)
Gallery Escondido Arts Partnership, San Diego, USA
“The Aesthetics” – Duarte Gallery, Torrance, Los Angeles, USA
“Through Exploration” – Fukuoka Asisn Art Museym, Fukuoka, Japan
“The Contemplate Relationship”, Lee & Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Group Exhibition (2024)
“KAASC Annual” – Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, USA
“The Aesthetics” – Duarte Gallery, Torrance, Los Angeles, USA
“Seoul Modern Art Show” – Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
Whittier Fallery Group Exhibition, Los Angeles, USA
Western Gallery Group Exhibition, Los Angeles, USA
Japan Tokyo Design College, majored at Graphic Design, Tokyo, Japan (1991)
- Seoul National University, majored at Graphic Design, Seoul, Korea (1988)
“
Ben Park’s work carries the soul of a master colorist, evoking the spirit of Claude Monet. His ability to capture light—not just visually but emotionally—feels as if he’s reading light’s inner thoughts. Each pigment, each flicker, is touched with remarkable sensitivity, transforming the canvas into a conversation between light and soul.
Through his cosmic works, using soot (그을음) and water (물), Ben creates a ritual-like experience—tracing the birth of stars, the origin of life. It feels sacred. His exploration of 빛의 입자 (particles of light) radiates warmth, energy, and joy. His art reminds us to stay humble, to celebrate the beauty around us, and to live with respect and gratitude.“
–D.C. Chung
“Traces That Breathe”
I gather soot—
not to remember fire,
but to seek what burned before flame.
Rain arrives—not to cleanse,
but to disturb memory into motion.
Each droplet stirs the soot,
a collision of time and matter,
a spark of something ancient
becoming form once more.
I paint traces—
longings that lived in fire,
that moved with water,
that settled into soil and rose as mountain,
that flowed as river and reached toward sky.
The universe is not a still image—
it is movement,
a cosmic choreography of origin,
an unfolding of the unseen into the seen.
빛의 입자—
particles of light—
shimmer in countless colors,
like voices of joy moving through form.
They gather around my daughter’s laughter,
ripple in the silence of a bowl,
and glow in the shadow beneath a tree.
They do not simply illuminate—
they sing the presence of all things.
Water holds time.
Fire awakens consciousness.
Each trace is a thread between past and presence—
a way to witness how we became
who we are.
Epilogue: Tracing the Beginning
Cosmic Traces: The Birthmarks of Space
Cosmic Traces: The Birthmarks of Space: I began this journey with soot—gathered gently from candle flames onto thick, silent paper. It felt like collecting something older than time, honoring the particles that drifted in stillness before space had form. These carbon remnants are not symbols of destruction, but of potential—of energy waiting to become.
When rain touches the soot, it doesn’t erase—it awakens. Each drop strikes with intention, breaking the stillness into bursts of chaotic beauty. On stormy days, the paper roars; on calm ones, it sighs. And when the surface dries, galaxies appear—maps formed by fire and water. These aren’t imagined landscapes. They are memory. Traces of life before life.
Later, I bring these celestial surfaces into larger compositions. I add brushstrokes in earthy brown, tones of soil. In doing so, I ground the stars. Sky and earth meet here. Darkness becomes form. Origin becomes becoming.
Origins of Space: Fire and Water in Motion
Origins of Space: Fire and Water in Motion: From the beginning, I’ve been drawn to the tension between fire and water. These elements are not opposites to me—they are partners. One ignites. One carries. Together, they move the story forward.
Each work in this series is made of twelve panels, like fragments of a vast sky speaking to one another. I allow fire to erupt through pigments, while water settles them into shape. What emerges are swirls, collisions, quiet expansions—echoes of the early universe. In this way, I paint the first breath of space.
Collision Without Cruelty
Collision Without Cruelty: Creation, as I feel it, is not soft. It is pressure. Time moves through force, and force carves meaning. These works come from that understanding: that beauty can be born from struggle, that clarity is sometimes violent.
But I don’t believe in cruelty. I believe in necessary collisions—ones that reveal, not destroy. This series is about that kind of force. The kind that doesn’t ask permission. The kind that shapes stars and breaks silence. What remains is not perfect, but it is true.
The First Light: Echoes from the Dark
The First Light: Echoes from the Dark: Then comes light—not gently, but defiantly. It rises from the residue of fire and water, breaking through with urgency. I don’t try to capture light as an object. I let it move, disrupt, reshape the surface.
These paintings are not answers. They are possibilities—visions of what earth and life might have looked like when everything was still becoming. I don’t recreate creation—I listen for it, and follow where it leads.
Whispers of Light
Whispers of Light: Now, my gaze turns closer. The cosmos still speaks, but I hear it in small things: in fruit, in a bowl, in my daughter’s joy. I see it in 빛의 입자—the particles of light that dance around everyday life.
These particles shimmer in colors we almost miss. They wrap around objects like laughter, like memory. They hum in stillness and whisper in shadow. I don’t paint objects—I paint the light that makes them sing.
This is the part of the journey filled with awe, with kindness. I trace light now as I once traced soot—not as technique, but as offering. To remember that everything—galaxies, rivers, faces, trees—is made of the same breath. The same becoming.
artworks
What Water Remembers
Width × Height: 36 × 48 in (91.4 × 121.9 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
The Departing Field
Width × Height: 36 × 48 in (91.4 × 121.9 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Geometry of the Unshaped
Width × Height: 36 × 48 in (91.4 × 121.9 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Threshold Pulse
Width × Height: 36 × 48 in (91.4 × 121.9 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Orbit of Chaos, Order Beneath
Width × Height: 18 × 24 in (45.7 × 61 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Spell of the Earthlight
Width × Height: 24 × 30 in (61 × 76.2 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Gravity’s Tender Grip
Width × Height: 24 × 30 in (61 × 76.2 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Torrential Whisper
Width × Height: 24 × 30 in (61 × 76.2 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Ships from Los Angeles
Volcanic Quiet
Width × Height: 24 × 30 in (61 × 76.2 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Through the Rift of Time
Width × Height: 36 × 36 in (91.4 × 91.4 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
The Strong Pass Through
Width × Height: 36 × 36 in (91.4 × 91.4 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Intervention in Space
Width × Height: 24 × 24 in (61 × 61 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Where Silence Speaks in Color
Width × Height: 24 × 24 in (61 × 61 cm)
Year: 2024
Material: Fire and Water, Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
Through Light, She Speaks
Width × Height: 30 × 40 in (76.2 × 101.6 cm)
Year: 2025
Material: Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist
He Glows with What She Gave
Width × Height: 30 × 40 in (76.2 × 101.6 cm)
Year: 2025
Material: Oil on Wood Panel
Frame: No Frame Included
Signed by Artist