Dispurs｜Minji Moon
April 2017 Issue
1. When and how did you first get interested in art?
As a young child, I was already drawing and painting a lot. I have always been doing it, and I think it came to me very naturally. I find harmonious shapes and colors totally absorbing. Pursuing art and design was following my passion to research more fulfilling art works and communicate through these.
2. You have a very unique style—How did you come to develop this style, and how did you think of using gifs as art?
I try to compose my work with a limited number of simplified shapes, and vibrant colors. Using these elements, I am looking for an abstract way to achieve the representation of an essential form of beauty. This ultimate beauty is not related to skin or hair color stereotypes. It is dictated by the research of a balance between each objects and colors.
I chose GIF format because I am interested in working on the movement. A short loop is a midpoint between a still image, and a moving action. My characters are restful, still, but living, breathing, looking. I am trying to convey an impression of restful but mesmerizing movement.
3. Where do you usually draw your inspiration?
Dreaming, sometimes awake, is always a huge source of inspiration. I believe dream is the key. When we are dreaming, we make abstraction of reality to rearrange thoughts and experience and give them another dimension. I always write down the ideas and images that occur to me. Before getting to work on a new project, I read all the texts that I have written. I prefer writing down my imagination to drawing it because text doesn't put any limitation on expanding my original thoughts. When I read them again later, sometimes I can get fresher images, more developed than the original ones, more in the moment.
4. Any particular reason you gravitate towards bold colors?
My favorite artists are Picasso and Matisse. They are using colors without any limitations, but the result achieves balanced harmony on the canvas. Canvases composed of vibrant colors have always particularly pleasured my eyes. It deeply affects the way I work. I consider compositing colors as my primary step when I create my work.
5. What is the message you send through your work?
What is extremely interesting is to hear how different people understand my work. The message we receive when looking at a piece of art is not dictated by a text, but comes from our unique perception of the art piece itself at a particular moment. So it is difficult to capture in words the thoughts we want to transmit through images. I can still give some keys, as the importance of identity, in all its complexity, and yet all its uniqueness and sense.
6. When you get to work on a project, what is your thought process?
My thought process is not static, as for example it is a bit different to be working on a moving artwork or on a still artwork. In the case of my recent moving artworks, it is really important to think of how the animation will convey the message, as opposed to just enhancing a still image. I try to come up with ideas to make the movement able to explain the whole subject of the image, and to bring a unique dimension that could not be seen through a still image. I think it is funny how different my motion work is from my other works.
7. Living and working in another country, does that affect your art? Why or why not?
Living in a familiar environment can sometimes block me from finding new ways of expression. Working in another country allows me to see the world from other perspectives, being exposed to new people and experience.
New York has a unique edge. The New York scene of exhibitions, conferences, events and design companies is incredible. There I worked with the design studio Big Human, collaborating with very talented designers and developers to produce impressive deliverables.
8. What do you think is the future of graphic design?
Graphic design has been changing very fast, and will continue to do so. I had the pleasure in New York to collaborate with Electric Object. This startup has produced a digital display for art, allowing users to discover from their home new artists and forms of arts. It is one of the new interesting distribution channels for artists.
Motion graphic is also increasingly important on the design scene, as short videos are advocated by strong platforms like Facebook. VR will also likely continue to grow at a very fast pace. I think the future of graphic design will in any case be full of opportunities, surprises, and awesome masterpieces!
9. What is your goal in this field? Where do you see yourself once you finish school?
I have had the chance to be invited to several exhibitions and festivals this year. I will keep working on my personal projects continuously, and look for more opportunities to help companies with their design projects, as well as collaborate with other talented designers.