House Rules

Lehmann Maupin presents _House Rules_, a new body of work by New York-based artist Anna Park. Known for her charcoal-based work that moves fluidly between figuration and abstraction, Park's practice explores gender, popular culture, and the complexities of contemporary life. Beginning each canvas as an improvisational mark-making dance, Park composes scenes that are gestural snapshots of an over-exposed and self-aware human condition. Drawing from the visual language of carnival games, casinos, and Las Vegas, Park's latest series examines the culture of competition and risk that has come to define American life. Park's imagery begins with familiar forms of play and entertainment introduced from childhood: board games, arcades, carnival games, and video games, all structured around winning and losing. Born in South Korea and raised in Utah, Park often found herself on the periphery, acutely aware of gendered expectations and social cues. That experience continues to inform her practice. In these new works, she considers how these early experiences may mirror broader cultural narratives around success, individualism, and the so-called American Dream. The promise of "winning big," long embodied by Las Vegas and gambling, becomes a metaphor for an increasingly binary understanding of achievement, in which success is measured by coming out ahead.