Maria Park's work examines ways that technology intervenes in our participation in the world. Ranging from serially based paintings to site-specific installations combining studio-produced and manufactured objects, her work explores human presence and agency within a media-reliant society. Since graduating with an MFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2003, Park’s works have been included in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Museum projects include solo exhibitions at The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Rosa, CA, and group exhibitions at the Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, NY, Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, MO, and the Seoul National Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea.

In 2012, Park was commissioned a permanent installation for the new building at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD and has recently completed the design of artwork for the central subway temporary barricade at the Chinatown Station in San Francisco, CA, commissioned through the San Francisco Arts Commission in partnership with San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Awards include the MFA Grant Award from the Joan Mitchell Foundation (2003) and the Korea Arts Foundation of America Award (2002), and the Murphy Fine Arts Fellowship from the San Francisco Foundation. She is an Associate Professor and Director of AAP Exhibitions and Events in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University.

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Born 1972 in Munich, Germany
Lives and works in New York

Education

2003
MFA in Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

2001
MFA program in Painting, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

1995
BFA, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

1993
Wimbledon School of Art, London, UK

1992
Parsons School of Design, New York, NY


Solo Exhibitions

2018
Training Setting, a collaboration with Braden Hookway, Nancy Toomy Fine Art, CA

2017
Training Setting, a collaboration with Branden Hookway, Bibliowicz Family Gallery, Milstein Hall Cornell University

2014
Composition, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2013
Composition, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
Shelf Life, Milstein Hall Gallery, Cornell AAP, Ithaca, NY

2011
Counter Nature 3, Sabina Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2010
Counter Nature 2, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
Counter Nature, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2008
Crystal Leisure, Toomey Tourrell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

2006
Discrete Velocity, Toomey-Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

2005
Stasis, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Strange Passages, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

2003
Introductions, Toomey-Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

2002
Discrete Universe, Diego Rivera Gallery, SFAI, San Francisco, CA

2001
Monster Slang, Diego Rivera Gallery, SFAI, San Francisco, CA

2000
reflex, Main Gallery, Pacific Grove Art Center, Pacific Grove, CA


Selected Group Exhibitions

2018 
text me, , Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2017
Hoping for Clear Skies, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY  

2016
Summer Breeze, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2015
Hot Spots, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2014
That's Where You Need to Be, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Beyond Earth Art, Curated by Andrea Inselmann, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

2013
New Year 2013, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2011
Red, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

2010
Sea to Shining Sea, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY

2009
For Excellence, Museum of Art, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Drawing, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Manifest Destiny, special installation, 11 KAFA Awarded Artists, Museum of Art, Seoul National University, Korea
Cornell Art Department Faculty, Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

2008
Re-Mix 2, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Ten, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
Cornell Art Department Faculty, Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

2007
Critical Art: Faculty of the Cornell University Department of Art, Academy of Art and Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (catalogue)

2006
Summer Splash, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Selections from the Contemporary’s Flatfiles, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Duets: A Collaboration between Artists, Writers, and the Hand Print                             Press, Gallery of Art, University of Missouri- Kansas City, Kansas City, MO

2005
Certain People I Know, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Summer Sensation, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Terra non-Firma, Howard House, Seattle, WA
New4, Belger Art Center, Kansas City, MO
Urban Jungle, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA

2004
Joan Mitchell Foundation 2002 & 2003 MFA Grant Recipients, CUE Art Foundation, New York, NY
Refraction, Andrewshire Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Nuit Blanche, Ampersand International Arts, San Francisco, CA & Paris, France

2003
Beautiful Pressure, Rocket Projects, Miami, FL
Cream 2003, Arts Benicia Gallery, Benicia, CA
After Study of Deflection Investigate Joints, Post, Los Angeles, CA
International Young Art 2003, Mars Gallery, Moscow/ Genia Schreiber University
Art Gallery, Tel-Aviv/ Sotheby’s, Amsterdam
2002 KAFA Award for Visual Arts, Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Herbst Pavilion, San Francisco, CA
New California Masters, Works Gallery, San Jose, CA
Terminal Velocity, Center for Integrated Systems, Stanford University, CA

2002
Murphy and Cadogan Award Exhibition, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
slant, Diverseworks, Houston, TX
surfacer, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Rethinking pink, Diego Rivera Gallery, SFAI, San Francisco, CA

2001
Memory and History of Place, Euphrat Museum of Art, Cupertino, CA
Crossing Bridges, CBS Marketwatch.com, San Francisco, CA

1999
They Hold Up Half the Sky, SOMA Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA

1996
57th Anniversary 2D/3D Competition, De Vincenzi Gallery, San Jose, CA

1995
Works on Paper, Koret Gallery, Palo Alto, CA


Publications

2011
Counter Nature, exhibition catalog, essay by Patricia C. Phillips, co-published by Margaret Thatcher Projects, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, and Sabina Lee Gallery, New York, NY

2009
For Excellence: The 11 KAFA Awarded Artists, exhibition catalog, essay by Peter Frank and David Pagel, Museum of Art, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

2006
Discrete Velocity, Hyphen Magazine, Issue 9

2004
Joan Mitchell Foundation 2002 and 2003 MFA Award Recipients, Exhibition Catalogue (essay by Gregory Amenoff), JMF Foundation, NY

2003
International Young Art, Exhibition Catalogue, ArtLink, Israel
San Francisco Art Institute Master of Fine Arts, Exhibition Catalogue, SFAI, CA
New California Masters at Works, Exhibition Catalogue, San Jose, CA

2002
Trepan, Vol. 4, Cal Arts Literary Journal, School of Critical Studies, CA

2001
New American Paintings, MFA Annual 2001, Open Press, MA (Juror: Lisa Phillips, Director, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY)


Awards

2011
John Hartell Award for Distinguished Teaching, Cornell University

2008
Watts Price for Faculty Excellence, Cornell University

2005
University of Missouri- Kansas City Faculty Research Grant

2003
MFA Grant Award, Joan Mitchell Foundation

2002
Korea Arts Foundation of America Award (Jurors: Henry Hopkins, Howard N. Fox, and David Pagel)
Jack and Gertrude Murphy Fine Arts Fellowship, San Francisco, CA
Liquitex Materials Award

2001
San Francisco Art Institute Graduate Fellowship

2000
Washington University School of Art Scholarship
Henrietta Wahlert Scholarship, Washington University

1995
Sobel Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute

1991
Hewlett-Packard Merit Scholarship
Bank of America Award in Fine Arts


Permanent Installations and Commissions

2015 
Central Subway Chinatown Station, San Francisco, CA, commission through San Francisco Arts Commission in partnership with San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to design artwork for central subway temporary barricade 

2012
Johns Hopkins Hospital, commission and permanent installation for The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center and Sheikh Zayed Tower, Baltimore, MD, curated by Nancy Rosen (catalog)

2004
Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Rosa, CA, commission of site- specific temporary installation for Trinitas: Three Artists Expand the Boundaries of Painting

Bibliography

2014
Baker, Kenneth, Bay Area Visual Arts Picks, SFGate, January 29
Lutz, Leora, SFAQ Review: “Composition” Solo-Exhibition by Maria Park at Toomey Tourell, San Francisco, San Francisco Arts Quarterly, January 23.1

2012
Moore, Tom, An interview with Maria Park, Connecting with Cornell, 23.1
Ernestina Snead, Landscape, and Image or an Encounter with Nature? 

2011
Sook Hee Chung, Strange Nature, Korea Times, April 6
2010
Emily Greenspan, Tips of the Trade: How to Buy Art, OpenHouse New York, NBC, August 29

2009
Sook Hee Chung, KAFA Artists, Korea Times, July 29

2008
Marianna Stark, Park, Maria: Acrylic Science Fiction, thestarkguide.com, January

2006
Marie Lee, January 2006: Gallery Crawl, KQED, San Francisco, January

2005
Kenneth Baker, Rauschenberg is 80- how is his work aging?, San Francisco Chronicle, December 31
Rebecca Braverman, Park Life, The Pitch, July 14
Regina Hackett, Terra Non-Firma Explores the Changing Faces of Landscape, Seattle Post Intelligencer, June 24
Alice Thorson, Art Captures Darker Side, Kansas City Star, December 22
Alice Thorson, Painting Against Time and Technology, Kansas City Star, July 31

2004
Carol Cuzner, Beyond the Painted Edge, Art Contemporaries, Fall, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Rosa, CA
Gretchen Giles, By the Beautiful See, North Bay Bohemian, July 21
Yoohee Ahn, Refractive Soul, The Korea Central Daily, July 12
Lindsay Westbrook, San Francisco Bay Guardian, January, Vol. 38, No. 17

2003
Damarys Ocana, Tales of Suspense, The Miami Herald, December 26
Jean Korelitz, Who Inspires You?, Real Simple, December 2003/January 2004
Olaniyan Adams, Introductions 2003, Stretcher.org, September 27
Debra Koppman, Artweek, October, Vol. 34, Issue 8
Corina Knoll, So You Want to Be an Artist.., KoreAm Journal, March, Vol. 14, Number 3
TG Moon, The Korea Times Los Angeles, March 20

2002
Hyun-Ah Lim, The Korea Central Daily, May 15
JJ Rhee, The Korea Times, April 27