Alex Paik is an artist using cut and folded paper to explore visual counterpoint and repetition as a tool for development. His work is inspired by polyphonic musical structures such as fugues. He is currently represented by Gallery Joe in Philadelphia and is the director of Tiger Strikes Asteroid, a network of artist-run spaces with locations in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles. Paik currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Paik will act as juror for “Not a Box,” The Art League’s first group exhibit focusing on installation art. He wrote down his thoughts on jurying the exhibit, below. For more about “Not a Box,” visit the exhibit page.

In addition to having a strong conceptual foundation, I’m looking for installations that activate the space both through the material as well as through the space that’s created between the materials. The work should be an extension of the questions that the artists are exploring in their other work and should reflect the artist’s serious interest investigation into materials, art history, politics, philosophy, etc. In other words, the work shouldn’t be just “pretty” or visual in nature but rather should try to marry the visual execution of the piece with the concepts and questions that generate the work.

Since the space that each artist is given will be limited, I’d encourage everyone to make a mock-up version in their studios as a way to take excellent documentation for your application (installations live and die by their documentation!) but also as a way to test out adhesives and hanging methods before-hand.

In terms of the application, good images are a must. Vague descriptions of what the installation will look like are unhelpful. Instead, you should try to provide images from multiple angles that closely approximate what you envision the installation looking like. The closer you can get the images to look like your final vision, the better. If such photos aren’t possible, sketches are ok, but please keep in mind that I will be judging the work primarily on the visual impact it has. The more I can see, the better.

I’m very excited to be jurying this exhibition. I hope that the application process will encourage artists to try something new and open up their practice to new questions. I am envisioning this exhibition as a truly immersive environment that transforms the gallery and highlights some new and experimental work by the artists.

— Alex Paik