Vision of Harmony(Luciana Benzi Toronto/March 4. 1994)

Hye-Ja Moon has been sculpting consistently for the past twenty years. She has an impressive list of exhibitions to her credit, both in solo shows and in many groups shows some of which at the most important and prestigious art institutions in Korea. In the course of this intense productivity she has undergone a few transitions in style and technique. She first started out with basic ideas about humanity and this lead her to employ natural material, like wood, for her sculptures. She felt that this was the material that best could give form to her concern for humanity in a primeval state. With wood she fashioned shapes adapted from the human body, mainly from the woman's body.

As she continued to produce she gradually adopted bronze as her favorite medium. The shapes became increasingly more abstract and somewhat detached from her initial intention. Clearly her concern had shifted from the simple state of being to humanity's more sophisticated achievements. At some point in her sculptiong career Hye-Ja Moon become greatly influenced by love of music. She was so affected by the emotions stirred up by the music that she listened to that she started to visualize works inspired by some of the best known classical pieces. She even goes as far as giving the titles of the various musical works to her sculptural interpretations.

She is totally absorbed in giving form to the emotions evoked by the music. The inspirational line follows its own evolution. At the beginning the images are rather representational of human forms in graceful balletic movements. After having explored many variations on this theme she moves to a flight of fancy of abstractions. There are still a lot of curves, circles, and ideas of movement but there is also something organic about these new forms, like some fantastic flowers or marine flora. At the same time the artist continues her involvement with music by creating forms reminiscent of musical notes. All these new forms are in fact a progress of her initial concern for nature and humanity and her externalization for the way she touched by music.

The sculptures are beautifully crafted. Each one is a unique bronze cast. They are clearly defined forms following her concept. They are very tight and highly polished. The later pieces have a variety of patination. The dimensions vary from around 50 to150 centimeters in height for the vertical pieces and approximately the same dimensions for the horizontal pieces. They are all free standing with the support of a base which is not an integral part of the sculpture.

Hye-Ja Moon has proven herself to be a dedicated and serious sculptor.

Her work is executed with a perfectionist touch and each piece makes a distinguished, personal statement. After having participated to many international sculpture exhibitions both in the East and in the West, Hye-Ja Moon will be presented in a solo exhibition at the Theodore Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto for the first time.

                                                                                 Luciana Benzi                                                                                  Toronto / March 4, 1994