Fräulein Talents: Masha Park doesn’t believe decoration is shallow

Masha Park doesn’t believe decoration is shallow. If anything, she sees it as something dangerously underestimated. Through surreal nail sculptures, distorted feminine symbols, and emotionally charged visual worlds, the Moscow-born, Seoul-based artist transforms manicure into a medium that feels somewhere between fashion object, body fragment, and psychological artifact.

Andrea Gombalová: Tell us about your upbringing and the first time you experienced a moment of calling when it became clear: I have a vision and I will follow it.

Masha Park: I think it was always inside me since childhood but I had a long period of time denying the fact that I have some kind of obsession with nails. I was always observing other people’s hands and their shapes of nails but I guess it took some time for me to evaluate these observations into self expression.

 

I was always active in terms of trying different jobs and by the time I was finishing my college with no art connected degree I knew that this kind of life style 9 to 5, waking up by the alarm, having a structured routine, being a good contribution to corporate structure is not for me. Not just metaphorically (I actually tried to work in an office and be a serious lady) but living in a world which looks absurd to me and doing something more or less serious or at least viewed as serious by society is missing the point of being alive. 

 

So by the age 22-23 I took seriously my skill of creating nails and decided to do it my way. I guess I’m lucky that my irrational decision led me to where I’m right now.

“Once again I truly believe that acting rational in a chaotic world is playing a game against yourself.”

Being half Russian and half Korean, and now living in Seoul, does that mix of environments and identities show up in your work and what changed for you creatively when moving?

I think being a mixed child I always struggled with self identification and this feeling of not fully accepted as  “equal” by both societies lead me to some kind of keeping distance from other people, sometimes even feeling that I don’t have the concept of “home” in my mind. But the good thing about it is that when you are not attracted to some social groups or places it gives your own perspective and freedom, which is crucial for my creative process. I think multicultural background helped me a lot when I moved to Seoul and it definitely has an influence on my works but at the same time I can say that a lot of my works are quite surreal so sometimes it even has no connection to our physical real world, I like the feeling of being universal. 

“The past is the past, the future is unknown, so mostly my art is what I feel at the present moment and how I can transform it into visual representation.”

 I think after moving to Seoul it gave me a fresh view on myself and brought the understanding of visual language’s power that goes beyond nationality, ethnicity or whatever. At the end we are all just humans who have desires, dreams, struggles and feelings. 

You describe your work as something that sits between decorative and disturbing. What draws you to that tension?

I really like when something decorative loses its meaning of being more or less conventionally beautiful and provokes you to feel some irritation. This irritation shows that beauty is not that simple and sometimes it’s much more paradoxical. It’s like when you eat spicy food it irritates your throat but you still want it, why?… 

 

It goes to something more unconscious and in my work I guess I’m trying to prove that decorative things are not optional, it’s more essential than more people think. 

“On the surface level you can see some object as weird, disturbing, impractical, but you still want to keep it or look at it, why?… you feel some connection with it even without logical understanding. For me this is art.”

Manicure is often seen as something superficial or purely aesthetic, what made you want to use it as a more conceptual or even confrontational medium?

I think as a society we are kinda stuck in a traditional way of making art and we also like to follow some stereotypes and keep making copy of copy of another copy. The concept that everything is invented is so outdated. There is a viewpoint that we can only evaluate the forms of art which already exist and put 1000 references into some project so it feels like Frankenstein. Sometimes it feels like people who are working in the field of technology are more creative than people who run our visual culture, because they don’t want to accept the idea that there is nothing more to “invent”. 

 

Honestly, I feel some cultural stagnation and I don’t want to see a cultural crisis in near future. 

“We still can do some breakthrough moments by using untraditional mediums, re-designing our view on art. Right now it feels like a loop, but it better be a spiral. The loop is complete, the spiral is endless.”

There are many more ways of artistic expression and by doing it we can transform this boring circle into something more culturally “rich”. 

There’s a long history of things associated with femininity being dismissed as less serious. Do you feel like you’re reclaiming that space, or challenging it in a different way?

I hope I’m challenging it haha. Actually, I find a lot of inspiration when I see that my works can resonate with people who were always far from femininity. I experienced a lot of support from different people, and it’s really important to me. I feel like if you are honest with your art people will connect with it no matter their gender, social status or profession. 

When you’re creating, do you feel more guided by instinct or by a clear idea you’re trying to execute?

I can say that I have a clear idea of what I want to express but when it comes to crafting (choosing materials, forms, colors) it’s more insightful. I’m not planning that much. Just trusting the process, I really trust my instincts and there is a clear distinction between something which feels right or not. Even if it makes no sense at the beginning I’m not trying to rationalise it. I guess it’s pointless to rationalise something which is quite irrational at its core. 



If your artistic vision were a physical space, what would it look like?

Structural but asymmetrical, different geometrical forms inside it, outside some sort of glass which reflects soundings. It would be cool if the walls can be transformative so the space would not have some permanent physical space but could be changed depending on my mood. 



You talk about your work as a kind of “personal anatomy” made of symbols. Can you elaborate what that means for you?

Personal anatomy because starting points are from nails, hands, gestures, something which comes from human beings or alive creatures, but when I combine nails with other objects or styling those details become some sort of symbols which help to put an audience into the context which I hope leads them to deeper feelings. 



Name a question that nobody has ever asked you but that would be important to truly understand you.

I think nobody asked me how good I am at keeping secrets. I really don’t like gossiping so if you tell me something confidential I can promise it goes to the grave with me.

Credits
Words by Andrea Gombalová

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