Introduction
Jiha Moon (born 1973) is a contemporary artist who focuses on painting, printmaking, and sculptural ceramic objects. Born in Daegu, South Korea, Moon is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Personal life and career
Moon was born in Daegu, South Korea. After earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Korea University and her Master of Fine Arts in Western Painting from Ewha Womans University. After graduating, Moon relocated to the United States to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in painting at the University of Iowa.
Works
Moon's paintings combine visual icons and symbols from a variety of sources, cutting across culture lines to the accumulation of art historical, corporate, and advertising symbols in contemporary society. Eastern and Western imagery and painting techniques, emoji, internet icons, and folk art are present in her work. She works primarily in acrylic paint on Hanji, a Korean paper, and incorporates fabrics, embroidery, and print collage in her paintings.
Art critic Roberta Smith wrote about Moon's work in the 2005 Asia Society exhibition “One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now," stating, "Jiha Moon packs...information into large, teeming paintings on paper, creating a sense of flux... rife with references to everything from traditional Chinese brush painting to contemporary cartoons."
She has received a number of awards including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, the Trawick Prize, and a Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia Working Artist grant. Moon has been an artist in residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts, the Omi International Arts Center, MacDowell Colony, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, and the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion.
Exhibitions
Moon has had solo exhibitions at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in Nashville, TN, the James Gallery at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC, and the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, VA, as well as galleries in Atlanta, New York, Seoul, Washington D.C., and Zurich. She has also participated in group exhibitions at the Asia Society, White Columns, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, The Drawing Center, the International Print Center New York, Smith College Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the High Museum, the McNay Art Museum, the Hunter Museum of American Art, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Public collections
Moon's work is represented in a number of major museum collections including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Asia Society, the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, the Fabric Workshop and Museum, the Mint Museum, the High Museum, the Asheville Art Museum, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Selected bibliography
2014:
Colvin, Rob. "In Survey of Southern Art, Place is the Space". Hyperallergic, September 5, 2014.
Yau, John. "Postscript to the Whitney Biennial: an Asian-American Perspective". Hyperallergic, June 29, 2014.
Yau, John. "Kathy Butterfly and the Aesthetic Challenge of "No Two Alike"". Hyperallergic, March 16, 2014.
Lampe, Lilly. "Jiha Moon: Foreign Love Too". ArtAsiaPacific, March 2014.
2012:
Kim, Micki Wick. "Jiha Moon". Korean Contemporary Art. Prestel Publishing: Munich, London, New York. Pg. 138-141. 2012.
2010:
Cochran, Rebecca Dimling. "Critics' Pick: Jiha Moon". ARTFORUM.com, Feb 2010.
2008:
McClintock, Diana. "Jiha Moon". Art Papers, Mar/Apr 2008.
Cochran, Rebecca Dimling. "Jiha Moon". Art in America, May 2008.
2007:
Cohen, David. "Weather Channels". The New York Sun, May 17, 2007.
Oppenheim, Phil. "Talent Show, Atlanta". Art Papers, Sept/Oct 2007.
Capps, Kriston. "Line Tripping." Washington City Paper, Oct 5, 2007.
Wennerstrom, Nord. "Jiha Moon at Curator's Office". ARTFORUM, Dec 2007.
2006:
New American Paintings. Open Press, #63 Mid Atlantic Regions. Boston, MA 2006.
McClintock, Diana. "Red Beans and Rice". Art Papers, Jan/Feb 2006.
Howell, George. "Jiha Moon". Art Papers, Jan/Feb 2006.
Smith, Roberta. "A Mélange of Asian Roots and Shifting Identities". The New York Times, Sept 8, 2006.
Kunitz, Daniel. "Defying the Definitive". New York Sun, Sept 14, 2006.
Yang, Jeff. "ASIAN POP/ Art Breakers". San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 16, 2006.
2005:
Cudlin, Jeffry. "Digital Distortion". Washington City Paper, Dec 30 2005 - Jan 5 2006.
O'Sullivan, Michael. "Jiha Moon's Shining Contrasts". The Washington Post, Sept 16, 2005
Dawson, Jessica. "Jiha Moon's Fantasy Islands". The Washington Post, Sept 15, 2005.
2004:
Johnson, Ken. "'Semi Lucid,' White Columns". The New York Times, Oct 8, 2004.