Language
Four Guardians of Buddhism in the Year of the Blue Dragon
Park Ji-eun - Girls Protecting New World
This colorful folding screen is Park Ji-eun's "Girl Four Heavenly Kings and Year of the Blue Dragon." Working between Oriental painting and popular culture fields like drama and music videos, Park crosses tradition and popularity.
These are "Girl Four Heavenly Kings"—motifs from Buddhism's guardian deities. Traditionally depicted as heavy, imposing masculine figures, Park completely reversed this, reinterpreting them as girls wearing ribbons instead of armor.
Notice modern snacks like tteok-tteok and tanghulu the girls hold, bringing classical folding screen characters into our daily lives. Each figure has unique personality through individual expressions and props.
Composing screen like manga scene provides familiar immersion. Her Girl Four Heavenly Kings are both strong and delicate, reflecting various aspects of women living today.
This exhibition presents large folding screen alongside 2025 Year of Snake work, where "villain" Asura and Girl Four Heavenly Kings' confrontation unfolds like epic with narrative structure expanding over time.
Park asks: "Is tradition just remembering past, or device for starting new stories?" She borrows traditional Oriental painting but rewrites it with today's sensibility.
These are "Girl Four Heavenly Kings"—motifs from Buddhism's guardian deities. Traditionally depicted as heavy, imposing masculine figures, Park completely reversed this, reinterpreting them as girls wearing ribbons instead of armor.
Notice modern snacks like tteok-tteok and tanghulu the girls hold, bringing classical folding screen characters into our daily lives. Each figure has unique personality through individual expressions and props.
Composing screen like manga scene provides familiar immersion. Her Girl Four Heavenly Kings are both strong and delicate, reflecting various aspects of women living today.
This exhibition presents large folding screen alongside 2025 Year of Snake work, where "villain" Asura and Girl Four Heavenly Kings' confrontation unfolds like epic with narrative structure expanding over time.
Park asks: "Is tradition just remembering past, or device for starting new stories?" She borrows traditional Oriental painting but rewrites it with today's sensibility.