Jooho Moon:
Showcase
December 10 – 23, 2020
Galerie Pici Seoul, Seoul, Korea
Introducing artist Jooho Moon’s multidisciplinary practice which spans over more than two decades, with exhibitions both nationally and internationally.
As I went to discard my lunch container, I noticed the pile of other plastic lids, bowls, and utensils spilling out of the bin. Until this year, we as a society haven’t been able to collectively slow down and look at our personal environmental impact. When looking at artist Jooho Moon’s installations replicating a museum setting, I noticed the rippling effect his signature cups had throughout his works, significant to his critique on consumer consumption.
An abundance of visual recollections
Artist Jooho Moon’s installations consider the effects of mass production and how we essentially turn those objects into items of the past as quickly as they are made. He identifies with the characters he chooses, as evident with Superman, and the way their status in society retains a powerful impact. He sees himself as a communicator between the past, present, and future. As if punched through by Superman, the wooden frame is covered with white plaster in an animated outline. It mirrors the disfigured cups, chaotically framing the objects.
Image: Showcase – Superman, 2019. Mixed media, plaster of cups on wooden box. 36.61 x 18.89 in / 93 x 48 cm © Jooho Moon, courtesy the artist
Jooho Moon
Showcase – Superman, 2019
Mixed media, plaster of cups on wooden box.
36.61 x 18.89 in / 93 x 48 cm
USD $ 4,000
Here we have Superman, central to the work’s size. Moon typically takes familiar images and uses them to connect with the viewer. They remind us of our childhood where we can forget about any negative repercussions or detrimental outcomes as a result of our daily waste.
His signature plaster cups are scattered and sparsely placed throughout each shelf, all of which are broken and remain minimal in design. The repetitive use of these objects remains crucial to Moon’s investigation into consumption culture and their meaning after being discarded.
Unfolding memories through function and form
Jooho Moon’s critique on consumption begins with everyday objects. He recreates the results of human waste, commenting on the disregard for objects that we take advantage of on a daily basis. His plaster cups, made to replicate plastic cups, sit shelved and layered upon one another, cracked in various forms to indicate the history they represent. Displayed as if in a museum case, these shattered cups begin to unfold memories, actions, and consequences, that Moon wants us to understand through relics.
Familiar spaces and objects produce new meaning
The artist references pop culture, utilizing images of Mickey Mouse to historical figures in newspaper and magazine clippings. The large-scale appearance of Mickey amongst philosophers, gods, and portraits of socialites, dictates the artist’s position on consumer culture. Placed above a shelf of his plaster cups, there is a never ending need to connect to something or someone, as fleeting or persistent as it may be. Combining these elements similar to a collaged journal, Moon emphasizes the need for humans to record and collect in order to understand one’s own impact on society.
Image(Right) : Showcase – Mickey, 2015. Mixed media, plastic cups, acrylic on wooden box. 22.83 x 17.71 in / 58 x 45 cm © Jooho Moon
Often subtlety mixed into the background, layered under paint and other images, the text remains one of the more subdued elements of the work. It registers as a diary style collage, tracing the history of a moment in time.
Jooho Moon
Showcase – Cello, 2014
Mixed media, plaster of cups on wooden box.
38.18 x 18.11 in / 97 x 46 cm
USD $ 4,000
His fragmented cello takes notes from Picasso’s 1914 guitar assemblage, which embodied the structural approach of materials used in constructing the sculpture. Moon engulfs the cello with what appears to be the frame’s shattered plaster outline. The repurposed material implies the multipurpose quality found in common objects. He pushes the boundaries of everyday object’s purpose, what they can represent, and how they can function.
The artist shatters plaster cups, in a carnival style display, lined up row by row. Moon replicates a similar design for each cup to emphasize the ordinary nature of the object on view. The fractures in each cup signify a mark in time. These cups are the targets of human trepidation, where we disregard the path our everyday objects take as we consume endlessly. Referencing Rauschenberg’s combines, Moon creates a new take with recreated objects, in plaster rather than plastic. He uses the idea of a combine to convey the quantity of waste and the way humans exhibit their own past to reflect on their present and future.
Moon’s destructive installations show how we as the viewer place everyday objects into new context, observing their place in the world removed from us in the present, but consuming our future and addressing our past.
Jooho Moon
Showcase – Red Cups, 2020
Mixed media, plaster of cups on wooden box.
46.06 x 29.92 in / 117 x 76 cm
USD $ 8,000
Image: Jooho Moon © Jooho Moon, courtesy the artist
Artist Jooho Moon’s multidisciplinary practice spans over more than two decades, with exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Born in Korea, Moon has presented solo exhibitions at the Jeonbuk Provincial Museum, Lotte Gallery, Guemo Institute of Technology Gallery, and Japanese Crawfish Gallery. He has been awarded the Art Contest Awards six times with presentations in numerous fairs including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Busan, Belgium, and Toronto.