Daehyun Kim is a South Korean graphic artist, who goes goes under the pseudonym Moonassi. The Vienna-based artist is most famous for his ongoing illustrations series, Moonassi. “Moona” is the Korean word for ‘The Void’ and “ssi” is an honorific title. Another rough translation of Moonassi is “the emptiness in me” which represents his art. A key aspect of this illustration is black and white ink, which he finds to be; strong, simple, and beautiful. The faces are genderless, and there is no specific time or place, further feeding into the essence of the void.
His drawings began as he studied oriental painting and became enthralled with the Buddhist teaching of “kong” or emptiness. In his work, “Anchored Memory,” we can see the expressionless faces attached to the rocks in a seemingly sleepy manner. This piece is connected to his other works because of its ephemeral and scattered thoughts. Each piece is a flitting thought in his mind, and his collection of works is his mind reflected at him. Kim draws inspiration by trying to harmonize East Asian art with modern life. He does this by taking from his own life and others and meditating, from there being able to see a story or series through words and feelings. Kim’s art is heavily focused on the malleability of humans and the distortion of time and space. His illustrations also show heavy depictions of two opposing characters, showing different views or ideas. Many of his works cause deep self-reflection because of their simple nature, with seemingly bottomless messages uncovered beneath the abyss of black ink.
Kim’s main idea is to evoke the same feelings he felt while drawing the image. Moonassi remains an ongoing project because he can tap into his own psyche to try to invoke the audience's emotions. He sees himself as simple as specks of dust and wants his thoughts or feelings to be collected into a fully formed thought or feeling. Those feelings are the main drivers of his work.
As previously stated, Kim's works often have two opposing characters that balance each other like yin and yang. The push and pull of stark black and crisp white can be another simple example of ethical duality. This is similar to The Code Breaker by Isaac Watson, where they discover the layers of gene editing. How moral is it in the long run, and how do we make more protocols to prevent this technology from being misused?
Hi, Mekaela!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great creative to share with us! I really enjoyed learning about Kim and his innovation as he fuses East Asian art with that of modern life. The use of black and white thoroughly exhibits the reflection of the mind, balancing the opposing forces, as you mentioned. I think it is intriguing how Kim's works encourage self-reflection because I could easily see myself getting lost in their simple intricacies, sending me to a new place within myself.
I also appreciate your mention of ethical duality in relation to Code Breaker. It reminds me of how Isaacson wrote that, at some point, it will be immoral for these scientists behind gene editing to not share this process with the public. Despite its flaws and potential dangers, they may/will have a responsibility to make gene editing widely accessible, revealing the ethical conundrum—one that I feel Kim could capture beautifully with his creativity!
I really loved learning about Daehyun Kim. I thought it was particularly interesting that one of the central themes of his work is emptiness. How does one depict emptiness, the absence of something? I think it must take a certain type of creative mind to do so effectively (which he obviously does). Kim's work also stands out to me as unique especially within the context of today's hyper-materialistic society built on excess. Instead of depicting “more” he depicts a void, a lack. Instead of using a jumble of bright, eye-catching colors, he limits his palette to blacks, whites, an d grays. This uniqueness stands out to me as one of the core elements of our definition of creativity that we discussed in class.
ReplyDeleteDaehyun Kim's art is so interesting and I enjoyed learning about it. I really like the concept of deep reflection with simplistic art, and I feel like he depicts his emotions exceptionally well. I like the fact that his art is only black in white, because I feel like it makes the observer concentrate on the emotion he is trying to elicit. I also like how you related it to Code Breaker, and I agree that the ethical implications of gene editing can be interpreted and uncovered in a similar manner to how one would examine a piece of Kim's art.
ReplyDeleteThese pieces are so interesting and emotional. Emptiness is something that I would think is difficult to capture in drawing, but Kim manages it. His pieces are deceptively simple, but I can feel the raw emotion behind them. The stark dichotomy of white and black really captures the nothingness he is trying to portray. I like his idea of his works as collecting fragments of his emotions until they form something whole. Thank you for sharing this creative, I enjoyed learning about him and his works. I will definitely check out the other links to see more of his stuff.
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