24. Mimi Jung & Alex Paik
Mimi Jung and Alex Paik discuss Mimiโs recent solo exhibition at Helen J Gallery, how their work is received by both the white mainstream and the AAPI arts community, how they express their Asian American identity through their lives and work, and who their imagined audience is for their work.
Alex Paik (AP): Hi Mimi! Iโm so excited to be having this conversation with you. Perhaps a good place to start would be to discuss Shields, your recent solo exhibition at Helen J Gallery in Los Angeles. For me, these body-sized works spoke to me about identity formation both on an individual level and on a communal level. On the individual level, I imagined the woven veil as a shield against being legible to a (white) mainstream audience. I think this is part of what Ocean Vuong meant when he called on Asian American artists to be โunfathomable.โ The refusal to be reduced and flattened really resonated with me, especially in the current moment where it seems like the art market is skewing heavily toward rewarding Asian and Asian American artists whose work is somehow legible to a white audience as being about Asian-ness.
Mimi Jung (MJ): I go back and forth from celebrating to feeling disheartened by the pace of the progress. And on the lowest of days, I'm enraged at the need for the fight for such fundamental rights.
For the most part, I favored broadening my viewpoints when speaking about my work in the past. I have alluded to the idea that my interest in subjects relating to self-preservation stems from personal experiences. With Shields, it was the first time I shared in-depth, with great hesitation, about those experiences. My uncertainty comes from what you refer to as "the mainstream audience," misconstruing and oversimplifying my intentions and the art community, deeming it opportunistic. At the core, I will always be true to myself and my work. However, in my opinion, being an AAPI artist also means you have overwhelming pressure to, at all costs, avoid disparaging the painstakingly slow progress while educating your audience.
Mimi Jung, Most of Us,ย 35 x 55 x 1.25 inches, Mohair, Cotton, Painted Panel, 2022
MJ: In the span of your career, have you noticed a significant change in how your work is received from both the "mainstream" and the AAPI community? And in the last 5yrs? And your hopes should your daughters want to become artists?
AP: Iโve definitely noticed that the AAPI community has been more willing to offer up and see identity-influenced readings in my work and Iโve really enjoyed those conversations and the various rabbit holes they lead me down. For the most part, the โmainstreamโ art world has read my work the same way it always has: through the lens of the white canon: formalism, Euro-American modernism, post-minimalism, etc. Thereโs nothing wrong with that but I find that I desire conversations about my work that take into account the full range of my identity.
If one of my daughters decides to be an artist I hope that by the time she is entering the art world there will be more space and room for different expressions and nuance in the types of work that Asian American artists can make. For the most part, the type of work by AAPI artists that I see become โsuccessfulโ in the mainstream art world needs to be easily legible to a white lens as being about oneโs Asian-ness. It is disheartening to see groups organized by Asian Americans regurgitate this same taste.
Which brings me back to your work in Shields: In addition to reading your work on an individual level, on the communal level I imagined a large tapestry of people belonging to a specific community, all with different life experiences and identity-intersections, collectively making space for ourselves and allowing for different expressions or ways to be โAsianโ without self-Orientalizing ourselves. We can shield ourselves as a group from being reduced by the outside while at the same time creating the space to allow ourselves to express our Asian-ness however we please.
It was a really powerful show and I would love to just hear you talk more about it!
Mimi Jung,ย A Glimpse,ย 44 x 64 x 1.25 inches, Mohair, Cotton, Painted Panel, 2022
MJ: The core component of my work has been the exploration of narrative identity, particularly relating to self-preservation. And how our narratives are constantly evolving in an effort to fit within a larger societal narrative.
Our memories are fluid; our recollections are transitory, but often they are communicated as concrete facts based on our need for survival. For this body of work, I look at the idea of shields in the verb and noun forms.
Most of us see ourselves as the protagonist, but that does not mean the other side sees itself as the villain. There are two sides to the Shield. Which side of the Shield we see ourselves is a constant negotiation.
In my work, the Shield is not a metal armor but rather a thin veil suspended in motion. The undulation in the composition combined with the varying transparency in the weft conveys fleetingness. I wanted the background colors to be present, to punch through the woven layer to distinguish the three spaces, you, the Shield, and the other side.
Tell me more about how you express your "Asian-ness" and how thatโs changed (since turning 40)? Do you code-switch when it comes to speaking about your work?
AP: Early on in my career I didnโt even realize how white the curriculum I had learned was, so in terms of my work I really only viewed it through the lens of Euro-American art history. It seemed tacky to make work about my identity and I had internalized the dangerous ideas about โneutrality,โ โcolor blindness,โ and โqualityโ that are so often used to justify a majority white canon. I also think that I always had a troubled relationship with being Asian, due to my experience as the first-born American child of Korean immigrants.
I had a studio visit a few years ago with Arlan Huang and he asked me how my work was Asian American. I mumbled some sort of incoherent answer and he emphatically said that I was making Asian American art BECAUSE I am Asian American, which I took to mean that there is no formal, material, or conceptual marker that makes work Asian American or not. I bring that up because I think what Iโve learned over the years is that I can express my Asian-ness by just being myself! I donโt need to do or not do certain things, but because of my own unique blend of how and where I was raised, my life experiences, and my own personality my expression of Asian-ness is uniquely my own and is as equally valid as anyone elseโs.
I donโt think I consciously code-switch but I always try to meet people where they are. If Iโm talking to a musician about my work I will often use my interest and background in classical music as a way to talk about my work. If Iโm talking to someone who is educated and interested in Asian American racial identity we will talk about that.
AP: I think I read in an interview or instagram post that you felt that working with Helen J Gallery allowed you the freedom to be more open about the aspects of your work related to your identity. Certainly for me after reading the press release I approached the work differently than if I had gone in โcold.โ
MJ: Often observers will say seeing my work does such-and-such to their psyche. I'm not particularly keen on over-imposing my intentions unless asked. The press release is there if guidance is needed. However, I welcome viewers to sit with my work and let their minds wander without pressure to "get it right." One thing I will say, the interpretations of the work should also evolve with time.
Alex Paik, Partial Hexagon (X),ย gouache, colored pencil, paper, nails,ย dimensions variable,ย 2021. installed at Cal Poly State, October 2022 (approx. 4 ยผ x 16 2/3 feet)
MJ: What information is crucial for your audience to be equipped with when experiencing your work? And when people imbue their narratives, how does that make you feel?
AP: I think the most crucial aspect of my work to understand is that it is not about creating an image but is rather about creating a structure for relationships. The modular wall installations explore the possibility for forms to interact with, relate to, and change each other while collectively dissolving, reconfiguring, and imagining new structures.
Like you, I welcome other peopleโs readings. If I wanted a fixed narrative I would write something down!
For a long time I think that I thought of my audience as the general public, but I feel like as I get older I really want my work to be seen and understood by other Asian American artists who have had similar life experiences as me. While I think that someone could always get something out of experiencing both of our work regardless of their background, I do also feel like there is a shared experience that we Asian Americans have in common and I like what my work does in that context. How do you think about your audience/context?
MJ: I'm not speaking to a specific audience with my work. But, the way various audiences receive the work differs. When audiences share their thoughts on my work with me, it reflects them more so than me.
Could you tell me more about the importance of being understood by other AAPI artists? What changed?
AP: I guess a couple things changed. I think I am finally fairly comfortable in my own skin and in my own racial identity (It took an embarassingly long time!). So in some ways I feel like I am making up for lost time.
Also Iโve felt that being in affinity groups like GYOPO or An/Other, which on the surface might seem confining, has actually allowed me to feel safe and expand the ways in which I think about my work. So the work hasn't changed that much but Iโve been able to connect so many aspects and common themes of my life to my art work and vice versa. It feels very expansive and freeing to be involved in affinity groups, and it allows me to express and see the full range of my self and my work.
Mimi Jung,ย Behind It,ย 36 x 30 x 1.25 inches, Mohair, Cotton, Painted Panel, 2022
AP: I know you are getting ready for a show in Korea. Iโve never shown there myself, so Iโm curious to know if you feel like your work is received differently there?
MJ: I was born in Seoul. Therefore, the privilege of exhibiting in Korea is never lost on me. Thus far, sharing the broader intentions of my work regarding narrative identity and self-preservation has been well received.ย
AP: Because of their format, the works in Shields were directly in conversation with painting without explicitly being made of paint. You also work in installation and sculpture, so Iโd love to hear more about what you feel your relationship is to painting (if any) and how you think about the different forms that your works take.
MJ: I used to refer to my "framed" works as sketches for the sculptures. However, there are cases when the sculptures informed the framed pieces. They feed into each other.
How are your works categorized? Do you feel confined by it?
AP: People generally categorize my work as either painting, drawing, and installation. I think my work has almost always been in between traditions/media and I realize more and more that this โin between-nessโ is central to both the work and to my identity.
Mimi Jung,ย Coaxed,ย 35 x 55 x 1.25 inches, Mohair, Cotton, Painted Panel, 2022
Mimi Jung examines multiple dimensions of self-preservation, particularly as it relates to private and public self-representation and the ways in which those depictions are manifested through social and cultural mores. Through the spectrum of works originating from the loom, Jung investigates the way people continuously negotiate space within and between themselves. Her limning of space is reflexive, visible to those who are predisposed to see it.
Mimi Jung (b. Seoul, Korea; lives and works in Montana) received a BFA from Cooper Union and attended HGK Basel and Stรคdelschule for postgraduate studies. Most recently, she was the resident artist at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. She has mounted exhibitions throughout the United States, including Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Nina Johnson, Miami, FL; and Helen J Gallery, Los Angeles, LA. Her work has also been exhibited at Les Gens Heureux, Copenhagen, Denmark; Korea International Art Fair, Seoul, South Korea; Collectible, Brussels, Belgium; Somerset House, London, UK; and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
www.mimijung.com @bymimijung
Alex Paik is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. His modular, paper-based wall installations explore the adaptability and interdependence of forms, color, and structures. He has exhibited in the U.S. and internationally, with notable solo projects at Praxis New York, Art on Paper 2016, and Gallery Joe. His work has also been featured in group exhibitions at BravinLee Projects, Ruschman Gallery, and MONO Practice, among others. Paik is Founder and Director of Tiger Strikes Asteroid, a non-profit network of artist-run spaces and organizes Correspondence Archive, an online series of conversations between artists of color.
www.alexpaik.com @alexpaik
