[Soyoung Cho (art critic)]

*Review on Hye-Ja Moon Solo Exhibition- Harmonielehre 2008-2010 at Jean Art Center

*For two weeks from the 24th of August to the 4th of September the paintings by Hye-Ja Moon were displayed in Jean Art Center.  In this exhibition the works were named after the title of the albums of World’s End Girlfriend that is a Japanese post-rock group since Hye-Ja Moon the artist has been inspired by the musical group for her works which were made between the year 2008 and 2010.  World’s End Girlfriend is famous for their musicianship of improvising compositions and arrangements, and of harmony and earnestness between electronic and classical music.  This musical group has a sustained influence on the art works by Hye-Ja Moon in that both seriously construe arts as improvisation and boundlessness between abstraction and representation.

*I could have a look at her works on the last day of the exhibition due to the hectic schedule of mine. I often listened to the music that the artist Moon had portrayed on her canvas.  However, the music did not need to be heard because they were already on her canvas and her works became the music.  Her paintings were breathing and singing on the canvas.

*Series paintings, Music for Dream’s End Come True are the paintings reminding me of Singing under the rainbow by World’s End Girlfriend.  Such images as birds, bells, figures running forwards, blooming flowers, blue sky and fluffy clouds imply bright and hopeful future with sound spirit, and the images of boxes that could possibly contain startling wonders imply further expectation and excitement for the future.  Rhythmically dancing musical notes on the waves of musical paper around the edge, and ships passing along the river that traverses the screen are the metaphors of the artist’s yearning for the unknown world.  I was watching the series Music for Dream’s End Come True with a pleasant excitement during the whole hours.

*Series Music for Enchanted Landscape Escape could be compared against the series Music for Dream’s End Come True in that the latter sings blooming flowers and bright morning while the former shows fallen petals and reverie at night.  Petals flutter down on the canvas and figures fall asleep under the tranquil starry light.  Ironically her autograph Moon is signed around a sleeping figure, which made me wonder if it is moonlit night or starry night.  In the series Music for Enchanted Landscape Escape the paintings are filled with motions both kinetic and serene at the same time. Such motions are arranged according to the logic of dream where unrealistic incidents occur consecutively and irrationally.

*Series Music for Mass Murder Refrain were made while she listened to the collaborative album  Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain by World’s End Girlfriend and Mono which was planned after their watching the Holocaust by Nazi Germany in 2003.  WEG took the parts of orchestra arrangements and string compositions, and Mono filled it with destructive noises.  From darkness and sadness to hope the epic album inspired Hye-Ja Moon the artist while she worked long hours with being immersed in the music.  In her works the souls are comforted and led to peaceful places by hands and songs around them and the eye in the center of the canvas accords a new order to all the chaotic sweeping.  The whole screen found the eye as a pivotal figure and all the things conform to the eye of justice and get harmony.  

*Hye-Ja Moon showed us how to play a pictorial variation of music through this exhibition at Jean Art Center where her paintings made during the period of 2008 to 2010 were displayed.   – written by Soyoung Cho (art critic)