Monday, February 25, 2008

Jiha Moon at the Mint Museum


Typhoon
(reprinted from www.mintmuseum.org)

I had the opportunity to see Jiha Moon's exhibit at the Mint on Randolph Road last week. Sometimes when you see "smart" art, it translates as boring art. Not here. There is an infectious, youthful absorption in her work....like she is discovering moment by moment with the wonder of a child. That sense of discovery is balanced by the very deliberate references to historical artisms and contemporary pop culture. I generally grimace at pop culture references....they just seem so shallow next to...well, everything. She explores them with equal zeal...I don't think she promotes the idea that one is bad and the other is not. All references are just toys in the sandbox.
I'm always pleading about quality of line to my students...and Moon uses line to it's fullest possibilities....it's descriptive, calligraphic, sexy and mysterious. Yes, I said sexy. I'm less enthralled by the color...but maybe that's just me. I think color takes a back seat to line and value in these paintings, for the most part, though Peach Heaven probably makes a liar out of me.

Peach Heaven
(reprinted from www.mintmuseum.org)

And, it's a lot of fun to see someone work on such beautiful paper...yes, I know this is a nod to history, but it's so darn beautiful just on it's own. Whenever I see such beautiful paper, I think about how we often get paralyzed by the preciousness of the materials....the paper is soooo beautiful, how could one ever make something to live up to the innate beauty of the it? Obviously, this is not something Moon has to struggle with....she enhances all those qualities inherent in the paper, as well as history and infuses them with contempory references that suddenly don't seem so out of place.

It's a small show, but you can spend a lot of time looking at these. I have to admit, the Made in China exhibit doesn't do much for me, but I did notice two recently installed Eric Fischl lithographs as I walked through the permanent collection. I thought they were watercolors at first.

You can see more of Jiha Moon's work at www.jihamoon.com .

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