Photograph by Mohammad Jahangir.
“I am a cartographer of cultures,” says Jiha Moon, “an icon maker in my lucid worlds.”¹ An immigrant to the United States (she is originally from Korea), like many of the artists featured in the original Objects: USA, Moon offers herself as the exemplar of a global citizen, gleefully combining ciphers from her native and adopted lands. Alongside traditional folk and decorative art motifs, the flotsam of international pop culture finds itself on the surface of her works: video games, fruit emoticons, Internet memes, and fortune cookies. Kitsch knickknacks, hundreds of which fill Moon’s studio, serve as her bottomless well of inspiration.
Like so many artists working today, she is entirely comfortable maneuvering across multiple genres, including painting on hanji (handmade paper), as well as printmaking and embellished cyanotype. In 2014, Moon began exhibiting her ceramics, which draw on East Asian traditions to some extent—the classic blue and white palette, and celadon glaze—but also are swept up into the referential whirlwind of her broader sensibility.
Yellowave (grey) in earthenware, porcelain slip, underglaze, glaze, and synthetic hair. Designed and made by Jiha Moon, USA, 2019.
6" L x 6" W x 12" H
15.2cm L x 15.2cm W x 30.5cm H
SC800
Courtesy of Mindy Solomon Gallery
Yellowave (crescent moon) in earthenware, porcelain slip, underglaze, glaze, and synthetic hair. Designed and made by Jiha Moon, USA, 2020.
6" L x 6" W x 12" H
15.2cm L x 15.2cm W x 30.5cm H
SC804
Courtesy of Mindy Solomon Gallery
Yellowave (blonde) in earthenware, porcelain slip, underglaze, glaze, and synthetic hair. Designed and made by Jiha Moon, USA, 2020.
6.5" L x 6.5" W x 12" H
16.5cm L x 16.5cm W x 30.5cm H
SC805
Courtesy of Mindy Solomon Gallery