SALTWORKS is pleased to present Detourist, our third solo exhibition of Atlanta-based artist Jiha Moon. Moon’s floating landscapes are shifting cultural narratives, playfully blending symbols, materials and techniques to slow down the viewer’s impulse to assume meaning and sometimes mislead by highlighting popular misconceptions or “shortcuts”. Her dynamic paintings skillfully integrate color, mark making, material and iconic imagery to examine the impermanence of cultural identity. In Detourist, Moon cites influences from a variety of origins, ranging from 13th century Taoist painting, American Pop artists, Walt Disney, Dr. Seuss, emoticons to Asian restaurant menus.

Through these works, Moon asks the question: Is the feeling of authenticity only experienced by the tourist? And how does this feeling shift when we see more and know more? Moon understands the influence of appearance and the natural impulse to assign assumptions to the familiar. Working from this knowledge, Moon layers colors, marks, and materials camouflaging their attributes to create multiple meanings and hybrid origins; the works have an unexpectedness of a new world. Using popular symbols to create her mishmash identities, Moon pushes the fast interpretation of the fantastic and nonsense to challenge common misinterpretations. In addition to the paintings and two mixed media works from her 2010 residency at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Moon has created two installations – Flag and Sack, a wall mounted series of patchwork flags with a crafted resemblance to social and national groups, and Detour, an assemblage of prints and direct screen printing on the wall creating a whimsical display of imagery taken from western fortune cookies.

Jiha Moon is a 2011 recipient of the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation Award. She has solo exhibitions at the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC; Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN and Rhodes College, Clough-Hanson Gallery, Memphis, TN. She has been featured in group exhibitions at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA; The Drawing Center, New York, NY; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA; Asia Society, New York, NY and the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA. Moon’s work is included in numerous public collections including the Asia Society, New York, NY; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA and the Weatherspoon Museum of Art, Greensboro, NC among others.