Searching for identity in Springfield

Artist Moon Ji-ha blurs identity borders through color, symbol-saturated paintings


Her paintings look unmistakably “Korean” at first glance, like what female shamans might have used in rituals during the Joseon Dynasty. Animals, mountains, letters and all sorts of characters are confusingly strewn on the canvas in rainbow colors.

But Moon Ji-ha told the press Thursday that she was surprised to hear many Koreans comment that her works have a strong Asian vibe.

“I never thought so. I guess they could think so because of the colors, but I actually imagined that Koreans would be unfamiliar with my works. Many of the materials and inspirations I used are from the U.S.,” said the artist, who has been living and working in the U.S. for the past 13 years.

She nodded when asked if Americans took her works as something close to their culture. 

“It is probably because many of the symbols and objects in the works overlap in both cultures,” said Moon.

The large fan motif found in many of her works including the “Big Pennsylvania Dutch Korean Painting,” for example, which would remind many Koreans of the Korean traditional fan, is in fact similar in shape to the fans often distributed at funerals in the U.S., Moon explained.

Pieces of fabric adorning her works, which it might be assumed have been dyed in the Korean traditional way, are tie-dyed. The artist said that they are “a symbol of the U.S. anti-war movement.”

Currently living and working in Atlanta, Moon is one of few female South Korean artists recognized in the U.S., having held numerous solo and group exhibitions. Living in a cultural melting pot, her interest naturally focused on identity issues.

“I frequently receive the question ‘Where are you from?’ The question is the root of my art. After spending a day mixed with people from different societies, I return home at the end of the day, look at the mirror, and newly realize that I am Korean. My 26 years of life in Korea and 13 years in the U.S. so far are evenly melted in my works,” she said.

About 30 of her recent works can be found at her solo exhibition which will open on Wednesday at Arario Gallery in Sogyeok-dong, Seoul. The show is titled “Springfield,” after one of the most universal town names in North America and England and also the name of the town featured in “The Simpsons.”

“It suggests a type of utopia, or the ideal place where everyone coexists peacefully,” she said.

She found inspiration and materials from both cultures she was exposed to ― badges and fabric from junk shops all over U.S. and lovebird images from her parent’s old bedding. Words, sometimes in Korean and sometimes in English, are scribbled in corners.

Everything is colorful, perhaps even too colorful.

“There are probably no other artists who almost foolishly mix so many different colors as me. I wanted to stir up everything, even the colors,” she said, adding that she never uses black because she wants to counter the stereotype that “Asians use black Chinese ink.”

If anything, she is more inspired by Jackson Pollock, the U.S. abstract artist, than any Asian artist. She added extreme symbolism to her abstract expressionism, though, to the point that her works became something like a treasure hunt. Planting witty images in her works and concealing their original identities ― turning Marge Simpson’s beehive into a part of a bush, for example ― is one of her favorite tricks.

“I focused on how viewers tend to brush past works. I wanted to offer them ‘uncomfortable’ works which they have to look at many times to realize the hidden meanings,” said the artist.

The exhibition runs from Feb. 1 to March 11 at Arario Gallery in Sogyeok-dong, central Seoul. For more information, call (02) 723-6190 or visit www.arariogallery.com.

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)