Opening Reception Friday, September 16, 7 - 9 pm

Artist's Talk Saturday, September 17, 1 pm

Jiha Moon, The Letter Shin, 2011, ink, acrylic, embroidery, fabric on Hanji paper, 59 x 59 inches

Jiha Moon, Swoosh, 2011, ink, acrylic, glitter on Hanji paper, 28 x 39 1/2 inches

OUR YASU
installation & collaborative works by Rachel Hayes & Jiha Moon
ADA Gallery, Richmond, Virginia
September 17 - October 29, 2011
Opening Saturday, September 17th, 7-9pm

ADA gallery is pleased to announce new collaborative works by installation artist Rachel Hayes and painter Jiha Moon. Jiha's gestural marks and seductive imagery are painted on, and embedded in, Rachel's sculptural panels that are sewn from fabric and Korean mulberry paper. Rachel's use of shiny swatches of colorful fabric contrast nicely with Jiha's soft fuzzy brush strokes as they attempt to tame the wild beast they envision their collaboration to be. Yasu means "Beast" in Korean, therefore "Our Yasu" is a tribute to their team effort.

With separate studios in Kansas City, Brooklyn, and Atlanta, there is a great deal of negotiation and compromise necessary as they construct and deconstruct work before meeting face to face onsite to create their installations. Hayes and Moon have been working together since meeting in 2007 at the Art Omi residency in New York. Their first collaborative effort, "Outflow" was featured in the group exhibition "More Mergers & Acquisitions" curated by Stuart Horodner at The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, 2009. They followed this with a large work entitled "Chutes and Tears" at The Lab Gallery in New York last April, a grand landscape of fabric and paint which unfolded and revealed itself as one walked past the corner window gallery. This work featured the use of recycled blue jeans, which were collected, shredded, often bleached, and reassembled into curtain-like forms creating cascades and shelters. For their exhibition at ADA gallery, the team will site specifically re-install "Chutes and Tears".

Jiha has finished her recent project with The Fabric workshop and Museum and was in four person show at The Fabric workshop and museum in Philladelphia this past spring 2011. Rachel had her fellowship exhibition at Saint-Gaudens national historic site in Cornish, NH in 201o and is getting ready for her one year residency at Mary Walsh Sharpe foundtion in Brooklyn this September, 2011.

This is Jiha and Rachel's third collaborative exhibition and debut exhibition at ADA gallery as a team.

Chutes & Tears at the LAB gallery NYC, 2011

Our Yasu will feature a new installation as well as many new wall pieces.

This exhibition will run from September 17 - October 29, 2011

gallery hours: Wednesday - Saturday noon - 5pm.

for more information and images contact john pollard at info@adagallery.com

www.adagallery.com

ADA gallery, 228 West Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23220
© COPYRIGHT ADA GALLERY 2011

Jiha Moon: Day For Night
Clough-Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College, Memphis
September 9- October 14, 2011

Download a PDF of the show brochure

Day for Night includes thirteen recent paintings by Korean-Americanartist Jiha Moon. These bold paintings present dreamy landscapes that are super-saturated with a breathtaking array of visual information. The densely composed pictures whirl and tumble like turbulent seas filled with parts culled from myriad sources and influences. The paintings create a liminal space that blurs the lines between East and West, seduction and repulsion, old and new, abstraction and representation, and spontaneity and intentionality. The dynamic paintings are at times laugh- out-loud funny or disquieting in their jarring peculiarity. The artist provides a lens through which to view a magical world where she combines disparate elements, constructing a representation of the frenetic, information-rich world in which we live.

Upon first glance Moon’s paintings can seem unruly in their over-the-top exuberance, but as the viewer’s eyes adjust, one begins to see the sweet harmony at work within the spectacular chaos. It is as if Moon is trying to make a painting using every technique imaginable. Each painting presents its own particular juxtaposition of parts. Bold, gestural brushstrokes and delicately rendered passages mix to form a no-holds-barred visual feast for the viewer. The artist engages us with her elegant balancing act as we dissect the formal layers of her paintings. In Day for Night I we find delicately rendered passages of intensely colored forms bobbing in a fog of watery underpainting. The carefully modulated, flat shapes are contrasted with mushy, gestural swaths of variegated wet-into-wet paint. Watery paint runs and drips into abraded areas, sanded down to reveal the grain of the painting surface. Subtly nuanced Hanji (handmade Korean mulberry paper) is collaged atop richly textured tapestry. While many contemporary painters filter and distill their many influences into a hybridized style, Moon maintains the specific particularities of her multivalent approach. In doing so she reveals the multivalent nature of her practice.

Further inspection proves the paintings are just as layered conceptually as they are in technique. Moon cross-pollinates and assimilates bits and pieces from a wide variety of cultures in an effort to speak to the pluralistic nature of the modern experience. Using a delightful mish-mash of sources that are at times dizzying and elegant she carefully orchestrates varying levels of visual turmoil. Brightly colored pop-images are layered with elements of traditional Asian landscape painting. Wavy tendrils rendered in a trademark Roy Lichtenstein style overlap with decorative elements borrowed from Pennsylvania Dutch Fraktur paintings. Microsoft’s Technicolor butterfly and the Twitter bluebird soar while the Grateful Dead’s tie-dyed smiley face and the head of the Botan Rice Candy dog look on from a distance. German calligraphic letters and classical Korean writing share the space with collaged paisley bandanas while reflective stickers, rubber stamps, and glitter glue pepper the compositions. All of which is held in place by some of the most exquisite, delicate brushwork found in painting today. Dozens of other familiar shapes are inches from the point of recognition. The unpredictable combination of images assures that no two viewers will experience or interpret the work the same way. By establishing a place where these disparate elements can co-exist on the same picture plane, these assemblages highlight points of cultural commonality while savoring the delicious tension created by the dramatic differences.

As I work my way through the twists and turns of Jiha Moon’s wonderful paintings I find myself stupefied and breathless. At some point early in the prolonged viewing experience I find myself doubting her ability to execute everything in one painting, a combination of skepticism and nervous anticipation―but each time I am led to the marvelous moment of synthesis. It is the very same feeling I get watching the neighborhood kids work their magic on their skateboards, flipping, twisting, teetering, and finally executing a brilliant move. Moon’s eloquent painting practice speaks to our own important task as members of modern society: to deftly maneuver the constant bombardment of visual information―from the pop-ups on the computer screens to our logo-filled public sphere. The underlying harmony within Moon’s carefully constructed chaos reflects the opposing dynamic and delicate order found in the complex human world.

Hamlett Dobbins Director
Clough-Hanson Gallery

Mary Ryan Gallery is pleased to announce Jiha Moon: American Appendage, an exhibition of new paintings by the Korean-born, Atlanta-based artist. This is her first solo show at Mary Ryan Gallery. American Appendage will feature a selection of paintings that combine ink, acrylic, fabric and collage on Hanji paper (Korean mulberry paper) mounted on canvas or silk. Moon blends Eastern and Western imagery and traditional Korean modes of presentation--the use of Hanji paper, her choice of frames, and the reference to Asian fan painting--along with visual icons from her past and present surroundings to explore ideas of cultural identity. The title of this exhibition, American Appendage, draws from the concept that the notion of “Americaness” is constantly evolving. According to Moon, in Korea the majority of people are 100% Korean, both racially and culturally, while in America, everyone is a cultural hybrid of some kind. The addition of the prefix “Korean” to Korean Americans (and similar “hyphenation” of other ethnic groups) downplays the integral role they play in weaving the vibrant tapestry of American culture. Moon seeks meaningful answers to questions like “where are you from?” and “what are you?”

Moon’s paintings are bold, vivid and energetic. Pulling from Korean, English, and Chinese, as well as visual languages (computer symbols, emoticons, folk and pop imagery), she synthesizes these elements into a visual code, using wit and humor to emphasize commonalities in things seemingly disparate. Fittingly, Moon’s works integrate wildly diverse painting styles as well. She combines expressionist and calligraphic brushstrokes, diaphanous color washes and delicately inked lines, to convey the myriad stylistic influences on her work. Moon often camouflages her techniques, making painting look like drawing and incorporating sculptural elements that evoke the physicality of impasto paint. In her work, the line between what one sees, and what one thinks they are seeing is often blurred. She intentionally plays with the “identity” of painting, mirroring the philosophical aspects of her work. As a result of her year-long collaboration with the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, Moon’s latest work reflects an increased interest in surface texture, incorporating embroidery, collaged fabric elements and “appendages.” The internet and digital communication also figure significantly in this work, as technology has become an extremely important tool for facilitating cross-cultural dialogue.

Yellno, 2010
Ink and acrylic on Hanji paper mounted on canvas
24 x 26 inches

Yellno (2010) reflects Moon’s emotional response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The sense of urgency and uncertainty so prevalent during those months reminded Moon of Roy Lichtenstein’s 1963 painting Drowning Girl. In Yellno, the blue hair from Lichtenstein’s girl sweeps across the foreground of the canvas like a wave, obscured by tumultuous brushwork. A menacing black plume billows upward, and various Korean, Chinese, and fictitious characters drift in the chaos. Moon deliberately chooses to include words and characters that have meanings in multiple languages; in this work, the Chinese character “No-rang,” meaning “angry/wild wave” translates to “yellow” in Korean. The title combines both “yellow” and the Korean word, “no,” which means both “yellow” and “great anger.” Word play is yet another tool that Moon employs to guide viewers through her fantastical painted worlds.

SALTWORKS is pleased to present Blue Peony and Impure Thoughts, featuring new works on paper and an installation by Atlanta-based artist Jiha Moon. The exhibition will be on view from January 23, 2010 through March 6, 2010. This is the second solo exhibition of Ms. Moon's work at the gallery.

Jiha Moon, Botan Dog, 2009, ink, acrylic and embroidery on hanji paper mounted on canvas, 10" diameter.

Throughout her artistic career, the multivalent paintings of Korea-born and Atlanta-based artist Jiha Moon have operated in several distinctive yet visually cohesive realms. As the title of her current Saltworks Gallery exhibition―“Blue Peony and Impure Thoughts”―suggests, this handsome body of work simultaneously conflates cultural references and confounds expectations, all while accommodating multiple audience interpretations.

The unnatural abounds in everyday life and in Moon’s compositions, like the blue peony, found in Cheoyong and others. Traditional pink or white peonies represent luxury and wealth―the opposite of lotuses, which signify spirituality―but blue peonies don’t exist in nature, twisting the expectation of these signature shapes. In this spirit, another shifting character in her work is an inu-hariko, another symbol for good fortune, which looks like a cat, but is actually a dog found on traditional Japanese toys and sweets like Botan Rice Candy (botan means peony in Japanese). Therefore, these lush surfaces have deeper, changeable underpinnings, as the “true” identities of each figure fades in and out of focus.
- Excerpt from exhibition essay by Atlanta-based curator Stephanie Greene.

Jiha Moon lives and works in Atlanta, GA. Recent solo exhibitions include Turbulence Utopia, Mint Museum, Charolette, NC and Pleasant Purgatory, Brain Factory, Seoul, Korea. Selected group exhibitions include the One Way or Another, Asia Society and Museum, NY (traveling); Currents, Recent Acquisitions, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Movement, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA; Art on Paper Biennial, Weatherspoon Museum, NC. Selected artist residencies include Headlands Center for the Arts, Golden Foundation fellowship, Sausalito, CA; Art Omi International Artists Residency, Ghent, NY; and the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, artist residency awarded by Asia Society and Museum, New York, NY. Moon is currently an artist-in-residence at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadephia, PA

These are based on my painitng "Botan Garden". There are two size, 20x20in and 40x40in.?They?are digitally printed on silk and inks soaked thru the fabric so as you can see the images on both side. The bigger scarf has an embroidery hanging element.

They are super higer resolution and you can either wear or frame as a print. FWM takes orders and can ship. Inquiries should be directed to the manager of sales for the scarf project Tracey Blackman, 215-561-8888.

More Mergers & Acquisitions acknowledges current states of personal, economic, and institutional uncertainty while positing an optimistic tone of generosity and camaraderie. Jiha Moon and Rachel Hayes, Golden Blizzard (an Atlanta-based collective), and Team SHaG (New York painters Amy Sillman, David Humphrey, and Elliott Green), all choose to take on the joys and pitfalls of Collaboration. Each artist possesses a diverse and inclusive practice, so their collective activities cultivate an even wider range of illustrative techniques and image-making traditions including collage, figuration, landscape, surrealism, fantasy, and kitsch.

Curator's Office
Jiha Moon: An Exact Place
November 7 - December 17, 2009
Opening Wednesday November 11, 6-8pm

Press release

202-387-1008
1515 14th St NW
Suite 201
Washington, DC 20005

6:30pm Curator Xandra Eden will tour the exhibition.
*my new print published by FHE will be at silent auction.

Moti Hasson Gallery
535 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001

Mint Museum of Art
2730 Randolph Road
Charlotte, NC 28207

Saltworks Gallery - It is my debut solo in Atlanta.
Jan 12 - Feb 22
Curatorial essay by Stuart Horodner, the curator from Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.

Opening reception: Jan 12, Saturday, 7-9pm, 2008
635 Angier Ave. NE
Atlanta, GA 30308
404 876 8000

Aqua Hotel: Curator's Office (Room 222)
1530 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL

Ink: Diane Villnani Editions
Suites of Dochester
1850 Collins Ave. Miami, FL
Daine will have two new prints (cole and lithos) printed by Landfall press in Santa Fe.

Intermix Holiday Campaign is designed based on 'Where are they?'
View here

Intermix will have a special event in their Miami store images from one of my painting. They will have gift cards, window display and T shirt using my images.
Event: Dec 8th, Sat. 1-3pm
Intermix Miami: 634 Collins Ave, Miami, FL 33139

Imperfect Articles has my Tshirt design (hand dyed with silkscreen print) at NaDa art fair.
Also will be available on line at Imperfect Articles

Miki Wick Kim Contemporary, November 1 - December 22, 2007
Opening Reception: November 1, 2007, 6:30 ­ 8:00 pm

Binzstr. 23, 8045 Zurich, Switzerland

Drawing Gifts, 4th annual benefit auction for The Drawing Center
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Auction web page here
View images here
THE XCHANGE
640 W 28th Street, 9th Floor (between 11th and 12th Avenues)
New York City

Curator's Office, September 15 - October 27, 2007
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 15, 2007

1515 14th St. NW Suite 201, Washington, DC 20005
Gallery hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 11 - 6 and by appointment. 202 387 1008

To the Left
A group show of contemporary asian arts at Ctrl Gallery, Houston.
Selected artists: Jiha Moon, Barbara Takenaga, Jean Shin, Chie Fueki, Yui Kugimiya

Ctrl Gallery
3907 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002
Opening reception: July 21, Saturday, from 10 - 2pm conjuntion with The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's "RED HOT" exhibition.
Exhibition dates: July 20 - September 1, 2007

Preview, Thursday, June 7, 5-7pm
Artists' Reception, Friday, June 8, 6-9pm
Talks and Tour, Thursday, June 21, 6pm
Performances and Awards, Saturday, July 21, 2-5pm

Opening reception: Saturday, May 5th, 6-8pm

535 west 25th Street, New York, NY 10001, 212-268-4444

Jiha Moon will be having her second solo exhibition at Curator's Office in September of 2007.

Additionally, Jiha Moon will be having her first solo museum exhibition at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina from January 26 - July 6, 2008 as part of the museum's Vantage Point series.

curator's office, a gallery based in Washington, DC, is delighted to announce the acquisition of two Jiha Moon works by the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. the two works are: "Place for Sib-Jang-Saeng II," 2004, ink and acrylic on silk; and "Styx," 2005, ink and acrylic on paper, Gift of Mario Cader-Frech and Robert Wennett.