BRONZE CAST 2, Bronze cast, 11" x 17" x 1.5", 2017

Drawing on her decades-long personal experience of displacement and immigration, Mimi Jung's new work explores the idea of assimilation. Through Jung's own identification with Korean, Asian-American and American cultures, her work examines the way individuals alternatingly accentuate and obfuscate facets of their cultures, based on their need to identify in a given environment. Her work questions what, if anything, exists at the core of cultural identification, when identification with one culture is dictated by the requirements of another.

NEON ORANGE TO WHITE, Polymer cords, copper rod, 34" x 48", 2016

A major theme of Mimi Jung's work is the tension between internal and external experiences, which she typically presents to viewers through interactive, life-sized structures. Her flat woven wall pieces represent her primal explorations of this theme. Their creation allows a deeper understanding of her unique materials, colors, textures and compositions - their combinations seek the quintessential balance of consonance and tension. Due to their exploratory nature, Jung's wall pieces offer the most raw and experimental version of her work, as they guide new paths for her large-scale structures.

BLACK TO BLACK, Polymer on steel rod, 39" x 47", 2015

Through weaving and casting, Jung represents this selection process of absorbing and rejecting aspects of cultural identity based on a perceived contextual void. The gaps and loose edges of each piece suggest a potential lack of integrity in both the original and present form. Rather than drawing focus to the holistic, repetitive pattern created by the warp and weft, Jung’s pieces instead emphasize irregular regions of emptiness.

GRAY WAVES, Poly cords, paper and painted MDF, 51.75" x 46.5" x 2.25", 2016

A major theme of Mimi Jung's work is the tension between internal and external experiences, which she typically presents to viewers through interactive, life-sized structures. Her flat woven wall pieces represent her primal explorations of this theme. Their creation allows a deeper understanding of her unique materials, colors, textures and compositions - their combinations seek the quintessential balance of consonance and tension. Due to their exploratory nature, Jung's wall pieces offer the most raw and experimental version of her work, as they guide new paths for her large-scale structures.

Portrait taken w/ the latest commission: FALLEN SNOW, Natural fibers and wood frame 60” x 138" x 2" 2017

Mimi Jung's work examines multiple dimensions of self-preservation, particularly as it relates to private and public self-representation, and the ways in which those depictions are manifest through social and cultural mores. Her constructed forms, with their voids and translucencies, are fixed but never static; the viewer actively controls the experience of transit around and through them—reflecting inward on their own behaviors. In the end, Jung’s limning of space is reflexive, visible to those who are predisposed to see. Born in 1981 in Seoul, Korea, Mimi Jung studied at Cooper Union and HGK Basel. She has mounted exhibitions at Chamber in New York City, Les Gens Heureux in Copenhagen, Design Miami/ in Miami and Collective Design fair in New York City. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

Mimi Jung

Frozen #3 series, Standing lamp, Jesmonite, Leather, Socket, Bulb, 24 x 36 x 80 cm, 2015

The project Frozen explores a new process of making furniture. From a series of Frozen project, there are leather, fabric and paper-finished stools. In terms of drying time of its material, jesmonite, which is a water-based powder mixing with liquid, seats are manufactured in a very short time with folding skill that expands an unpredicted form.

Frozen #3 series, Standing lamp, Jesmonite, Leather, Socket, Bulb, 80 x 28 x 80 cm, 2015

Jungin Lee creates work, which engages her thinking with an intuitive and unified narrative. With an academic background in product and furniture design, Lee’s approach is one of pure self- expression and instinct. Her furniture and objects are absorbed with materiality and experimentation. Each piece is handmade with honesty, rawness and irregularity in its chosen material.

Frozen #4 Series, Wall lamp, Jesmonite, leather, 2015

Jungin Lee is a product designer keen on taking hands-on, experimental approach to projects, using design as a tool to explore alternative solutions. Her interests lie in variety of aspects of design including creation of future scenarios, process of making, materiality and objects, and film making.

Frozen #4 Series, Bench & Wall lamp, Jesmonite, Leather, Socket, Bulb, 50 x 50 x 170 cm (Bench), 50 x 60 x 25 cm ( Wall lamp) 2015

The fabric folds into a seat in 15 mins. A mixed jesmonite will be poured into the soft mould and then cured in to form the hard inner structure. From the outside, the seat will still retain the softness of the woven fabric/paper. As a benefit of its process and material, it is less than 1cm thick and lightweight. It is an unconventional process of moulding to create one of a kind object using an industrial process.

Frozen Fibre glass, Ink, Jesmonite 2012

Jungin Lee

White-purple cube segmentation, 7"h x 7"w x 6.75"d, 2015

cube segmentation (white-orange), 8.25h x 8.25w x 8.25d (inch), 2013

white-orange cuboid biaxial segmentation, 10.5h x 11.5w x 5.25d (inch), 2014

The segmentation series is inspired by my fascination with science of cell, its division and the journey of growth that starts from a single cell and goes through a million divisions to become a life. I work with glass that has transparency and translucency, two qualities that serve as perfect metaphors for what is known and unknown about life science. The segmented, geometrical forms of my work represent cells, embryos, biological and molecular structures—each symbolizing the building blocks of life as well as the starting point of life.

white Drosophila embryo segmentation, 6.5h x 14.5w x 5.75d (inch), 2014

chromosome segments, 11h x 16w x 15.5d (inch), 2014

development-embryo segmentation, 6.5h x 12w x 6d (inch), 2013

The uniquely refined translucent glass surfaces suggest the mysterious qualities of cells and, on a larger scale, the cloudiness of their futures. The Segmentation series is subtle and quiet yet structurally complex. I transform solid glass using cutting, lamination, carving, and surface refining processes to make art that is both beautiful and deeply invested with meaning.

Jiyong Lee