Jiha Moon
Peter Pettengill, printer
2007- 2008
Workshop: October 20-22, 2008
The 2008 Smith College Print Workshop featured a collaboration between Korean-born painter Jiha Moon, and master printer Peter Pettengill of Wingate Studio.
Self-described as a “cartographer of cultures,” painter Jiha Moon has said of her work… “I try to visually express the complex relationships between the east and west, between nature and technology, and between the mental and physical worlds. The narrative motifs of these mindscapes come from my background as a Korean and through my cultural experience in the United States.” Moon is interested in both conceptual and stylistic oppositions and borrows her imagery from a variety of sources, both eastern and western, which she recombines to create her own fictional universe. Eastern scroll paintings are also an influence, however, unlike traditionally monochromatic Asian ink paintings, Moon’s works are painted with a florid palette, borrowed in part from popular culture. Transparent washes of paint and flowing swathes of saturated color are countered by the exquisite draftsmanship of Moon’s calligraphic lines.
Moon’s print Impure Thoughts (2008), is partially inspired by the work of the American painter Philip Guston. The artist came armed with drawings and quickly adapted to intaglio work, using spit-bite aquatint to capture the delicate washes seen in her paintings, and lift-ground to mimic her masterful sweeping sense of line.
Jiha Moon. Born Korea, 1973 –
Spit-bite and lift-ground aquatint etching with drypoint and chine‑colle
printed in color on paper
Sheet: 22 5/8 x 30 1/8 in.; image: 18 x 23 1/2 in.