Counting On Numbers
Numbers persistently appear in Olivia Park’s work – she has tied 86,126 knots; she has collected q tips for 1079 days; she has glued 13,169 hole punches; she’s recorded the time (1084 minutes) it took her to write out the numbers 1 through 9,281 (the number of days she had been alive at the time); she has tallied the expected number of days (22,307) she has to live according to her demographics. Despite their relentless presence in her process, numbers have seldom shown themselves as numerals in the final pieces. In this body of work, numerals have finally crept onto the page, rendering themselves the subject, and the object.
Olivia Park Disclaimer
I loathe wasting; I’ve used 50 sheets of paper towels to polish my hardwood floors
I am easily repulsed by human bodies; I incessantly draw objects that evoke the vagina, the penis, the scrotum, the boob, the fallopian tube, the sperm
I hate wearing underwear; I currently own 78 pairs of panties – I just threw away 10 pairs last week
I am mesmerized by spaces and the idea of creating them; Pen on paper is my drug of choice
I am terrified by the prospect of failure; I have no expectations for what I make, am making
I revel in spontaneity; I have aneurisms when I lack order
The process and thus product of my work is spontaneous; my work evolves from the repetition of a single act
They are not to make statements; they reveal components of time, obsessiveness, and the grotesque
They are complete works; they are Doodles.