Artist of the Month 

October 2008 Artist:
Jae Hi Ahn

Image Dreaming Plant, detail, 2008, C-Print, 11x11 in.

Jae Hi Ahn pushes the limits of what one can do with discarded plastic forms as she imbues industrial and everyday materials with newly charged aesthetic meaning. Re-envisioning what she refers to as “seemingly meaningless materials” into art objects, the artist recycles these everyday forms to create new environments that oscillate between nature and life. The tension between artificiality and the organic webs that flow out of the artist’s choice of materials result in biomorphic systems that permeate the space with new value and perspective.

Her Dreaming Plant Series are large hanging sculptural works that consist of endless lines of repeated organic form. Constructed out of vinyl tubing, plastic cutouts, wire and pin, Dreaming Plant shoots out into amorphous tendrils, transforming the space into a fabricated hanging garden. The translucency of form and the entanglement of tubing work infuse the site with an ethereal aura while the play of light and shadow reflected off the networks of vines creates another field of depth for the viewer to contemplate.

Image Dreaming Plant (Installation view at Alpan Gallery), 2008, PVC tube, wire, vinyl cutout, pins, size variable

Artist Statement

My inspiration comes from insignificant everyday life and industrial items that I re-define, re-purpose, and re-value. I re-purpose materials to reveal the spirit of the life inherent. I try to identify the ephemeral by transforming it into the object for art. I use industrial and everyday life materials and methods and create natural/organic forms. Materials for my works are the ephemeral remains of living. These materials are revitalized through new perspectives. I wish to regenerate their values in the form of art. I hope to create the new creatures refined through the art-making process.

Born in South Korea, the artist received her BFA for Sculpture at Chungnam National University, South Korea in 1997 and an MFA from Long Island University/C.W. Post Campus, NY in 2002. Jae Hi Ahn has had solo exhibitions at the Alpan Gallery, Dam Stuhltrager Gallery, and Phoenix Gallery, all based in New York. In 2008 Jae Hi Ahn was a guest artist at Parsons School of Design, NY. The artist participated in outdoor projects such as Night in Bloom for the DUMBO Art under the Bridge Festival in Brooklyn, NY in 2006. Her awards and residencies include the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship and the Urban Artist Initiative Fellowship, NY in 2008; the Sculpture Space Residency, NY in 2007; and an Alpan Gallery Summer Residency, NY in 2005. Jae Hi Ahn lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Image Dreaming Plant, 2007, PVC tube, wire, vinyl cutout, pins, 98x55x50 in.

Written by Maria Quinata, BRIC Rotunda Gallery Intern
Artist selected by Marcia McHam and Narcissa Titman, BRIC Rotunda Gallery Friends Committee Members