ma-eum: Wandering Minds

DEUTSCH

ma-eum: Wandering Minds
Jeong Hwa Min 

May 4 - June 10, 2023 

Vernissage⎢Thurs. May 4, 18 - 21 hr
Finissage with Book Launch Endlich Ruhe⎢Sat. June 10, 14 - 16 hr

Tues. + Wed. 11 - 15 hr / Thurs. + Fri. 11 - 18 hr / Sat. 11 - 16 hr

einBuch.haus / Florastr. 61, 13187 Berlin 

 

ma-eum #9

Ein Dach für das verletzte ma-eum.
Frischer Wind, ein böses Gerücht, selbst sanftes Abendlicht schmerzt das ma-eum wie ein erster Verrat.
Auch vor den schönen Lügen schützt das Dach.

ma-eum #9, in: Jeong Haw Min, ma-eum: Wandernde Gemüter, p.48

On the occasion of first edition release of the picture book ma-eum: Wandernde Gemüter in German, einBuch.haus invites the illustrator Jeong Hwa Min to a solo exhibition.

ma-eum is a series of paintings in which the artist collects and documents ma-eum* that exist within her but have been forgotten, hidden, or neglected. The process of numbering the ma-eum, taking note of their condition, and documenting their proper storage is similar to the process of collecting to create a personal herbarium.

In this book, the artist presents the ma-eum as an individual personality with its own life force — a collection of feelings and thoughts that have condensed over time. The ma-eum can go through many different states in a person: it can become softer or harder, smaller or larger. As it arises due to a circumstance or developments within a person, it can also leave them again once the event ends. Most ma-eum pass away naturally and gently like morning dew on a meadow, while others last longer and require care.

Accordingly, the picture book is divided into three chapters: wandering minds, the care, and the wind. einBuch.haus exhibits paintings, books, and ceramic sculptures that are also depicted in the publication. The main wall of the gallery shows a site-specific wall drawing inspired by Chaekgeori**. With the expansion and transfer into the exhibition space, Min wanted to capture a scene from the flowing narrative of the time-based medium of the book to let the ma-eum linger in the exhibition without time. The still scene is a peaceful time for the ma-eum to rest. The wall painting representing the space of care continues the story and contrasts with the landscape of the wandering ma-eum depicted on the other side of the wall.

**Chaekgeori (Korean: 책거리, translated as "books and things") refers to an arrangement of books, shelves, various objects, and treasures in Korean genre painting during the Joseon Dynasty. This depiction of collected objects is considered an expression of positive wishes for health, happiness, wealth, and abundance. In this sense, Min's publication deals with the timeless beauty and power of past moments.  

einBuch #28

ma-eum: Wandernde Gemüter
Jeong Hwa Min  

Editing: F. W. Rösch
Photographs from Original paintings: Axel Lambrette, Hyemi Cho

200 x 200 mm, pp. 90; German
Digital print
self-publishing, first edition of 130

1st edition in Korean: 09.2022
1st edition in German: 04.2023

Jeong Hwa Min

(*1978, KR, lives and works in Germany since 2006)

Jeong Hwa Min is an artist and illustrator with a focus on painting, artists' books, printmaking, and ceramics. Her geometric drawings and paintings are characterized by opposites: light and shadow, straight lines and curves, abstract and organic forms of living and non-living things, inspired by her life in the countryside. 

The artist mainly works on picture books and prints, which she produces in handmade Risography at home. In 2019 and 2020, Min had solo exhibitions in Berlin and Seoul with the painting series Houseplants. Since 2020, she has been working on the series ma-eum in the form of paintings, picture books, and ceramic objects, and had a solo exhibition at Gallery Factory 2 in Seoul in 2022.

Exhibition View: Jeong Hwa Min, ma-eum: Wandering Minds., einBuchhaus. 2023 (Photo: Hyemi Cho)