Peeling hand - pen and ink drawing /  by Mirena Rhee

although i hate white paper and black ink just didn’t want to stop - but note to me - do not use white paper and non transparent ink. I like very gentle and transparent strokes because nothing in nature is sharp - most things are soft and vanishing.

Peeling hand - pen and ink drawing

Giant Hands in East Village /  by Mirena Rhee

Giant Hands in East Village is a week-long site specific installation created over three nights and one day on site at 172 E 4th street by the generous invitation of Chashama - Chashama.org

Giant Hands in East Village statement

The hands are towering structures traveling through space and time. The hands are the pillars of creation.

The back of every chair every pillow every brick every piece of twisted metal, every twist in a cypress, every hand of god on a roof, every red balloon and every little girl attached to it by a string, every pyramid and colossus has been made by the hand. Every city every spire every fence every wall, every gesture of kindness and generosity.

Due to the ephemeral nature of the hands, they gesture and move on. Some of them move if you wave at them gently. Site specific installation created in the space.

In creating shapes and objects I'm looking for truth, an easy state. I love the East village in the sense that it feels true New York City, with all its grittiness and authenticity. I created this installation in the span of three nights and one day and will only stay up over one week as a site-specific object true to the place. I like the pressure of working fast and keeping doubt to a minimum, I like the pressure of the ephemeral. It will never be the same again.

I loved working in the East village this is quintessential New York City, I loved the space I wanted the hands to gesture inside and to rest on surfaces. I also loved all the graffiti and the marks on the windows which overlapped the work inside. In a way I found the graffiti to be more authentic art and a good truth to aspire to. Because truth is what I am after.

Graffiti are good truth to aspire to. I thought the graffiti and city lights reflecting, overlapping the hands pretty special. This space taught me a lot.

As an artist I live a solitary life, I do investigations and create work in private. There is never finished work and there's never a definitive answer.

Working in the East Village was very special. I got in touch with a community I've never had an opportunity to work in before. Artists from the community came to my exhibit and we had hours and hours of conversations about our work and lives, conversations between artists and also between artists and the community are very important. This is the lifeblood of the creative process.

I derive a lot of inspiration from New York City and every encounter in New York City is significant to me, I really value honesty and truth in the work I create, working on the ground at 172 e 4th street felt like being part of a life process rather than a formal and confined studio experience.

This enabled me to do an investigation into the East Village, the people as well as a ground floor windowed space which invited the street outside. For me removing doubt from work is necessary and having to work under pressure takes care of doubt. Working with a deadline towards a definitive goal is very positive as it sets out a pace for the investigation, because my process is an investigation and usually fast pace keeps it true to the self.

Art is at the center of our inner lives, it is ephemeral and not with immediate material benefit. To have sustainable art practice we need sustained effort to support the workers in the “non-material” economy like artists and poets, writers and others. I am grateful to Chashama for inviting me to work in the space.

Happy Easter from the Hands /  by Mirena Rhee

The hands are towering structures traveling through space and time. The hands are the pillars of Creation.

The back of every chair every pillow every brick every piece of twisted metal, every twist in a Cypress, every hand of god on a roof, every red balloon and every little girl attached to it by a string, every pyramid and Colossus has been made by the hand. Every city every spire every fence every wall, every gesture of kindness and generosity. 

I don't believe in bliss in the heavens, people wait to die to get to a nice place. We can create and act blissfully here, it is through acts of love and beauty that we do this.

My photographs of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris /  by Mirena Rhee

This weekend only - site specific installation of a very ephemeral nature. Sat-Sun 12-6pm, 172 E 4th /  by Mirena Rhee

I see the hands as towering structures traveling through space and time.

Due to the ephemeral nature of the hands, they gesture and move on. Some of them move if you wave at them gently. Site specific installation created in the space.


Today and tomorrow only!


Saturday, April 13th and Sunday, April 14th

12-6pm 

172 e 4th


a Chashama Space to Present.


@chashama


#installation #gianthands#gianthandsinmanhattan #color#hand #hands


#painting #mirenarhee


#art #newyork


#paper #fineart #artonpaper


#art #artgallery #artist #artnews#artshow #artwork #fineart #myart#newyorkcity 

#InstagramNYC #nyc #artnyc#nycart #exhibition #show 

#eastvillage #manhattan

#graffiti

Giant Hands in the East Village this Weekend Sat, Sun 12-6 pm, 172 E 4th /  by Mirena Rhee

Giant Hands this Weekend - April 13-14, Saturday and Sunday 12-6 pm

172 E 4th

a most awesome Chashama space to present.

https://chashama.org/

Giant Hands in East Village /  by Mirena Rhee

Giant Hands is a site-specific installation by Mirena Rhee consisting of Giant Hands made out of lined bond paper painted with acrylic paint. In the past year Mirena created numerous site-specific installations using Giant Hands in Manhattan and in Beacon, New York. She designs the installations to have very little turnaround time where the hands could be transported and deployed very quickly. This site specific installation consists of hands hanging from the ceiling, being attached to walls in a non-destructive manner or simply draped over objects or walls, to create what she calls gestural mounds.

These series of installations arose from Mirena’s observations of simple and mundane daily activities like holding onto the rails in the subway where the hands draw extraordinary three-dimensional shapes. As the hands move through space they create flowing, complex structures of hand trails. This body of work explores these ephemeral constructs.

Each Giant Hand starts with a small hand gesture sketch which Mirena refines into a line drawing. She then enlarges the line drawing and transfers it to paper. She paints the enlarged hands using non-toxic acrylic paint.

When hung loosely, the hands travel in a series of gestures, follow a think line and coalesce into three-dimensional structures. Mirena’s hands serve as the models and main building element of the installations because, she explains, “they are always present and available, constantly traversing and dominating her personal space.”

About Mirena Rhee

Mirena works with a mix of live arts, digital media and fine arts. She starts with a drawing or several drawings which she then uses to create installations and animations. She often uses the installations as a stage to create a performance, include found objects, and sometimes remixes the results into a new video or animation.

Mirena’s installations and performances are often created in public spaces in New York City, in which she often engages the general public to create collaborative works of art.

Mirena lives and works in New York City. Prior to moving to New York, Mirena spent ten years in the Silicon Valley as a senior and lead artist for franchises like Star Wars, Iron Man, X-Men and Shrek. This type of commercial work involved working in a three dimensional space on the computer and her work carries over that three-dimensional play. In addition Mirena draws inspiration from the City of New York, its transient spaces, the objects strewn about the sidewalks and people she encounters on a daily basis.

For more information about Mirena, visit her online at www.mirenarhee.com. You can also follow her on twitter, instagram, and facebook.

Xquisite Corpse Act One - Today /  by Mirena Rhee

Xquisite Corpse Act One - Today

As part of Xquisite Corpse Act One I wore a white canvas dress on the streets of Manhattan and asked New Yorkers from all walks of life to write me a message. From the delivery guy on East 51st street, people waiting to be seated for lunch on the Upper East side, the doormen of Radio City hall, patrons waiting for their limousines at the Art Fairs, to the amazing person who literally dragged me inside the Armory Show, to visitors of Scope - New York, to a bar on 6th ave, to the cashier at Trader Joe's on 23rd street.. In 15 languages and almost 200 messages, we wrote the poem of our collective subconscious and I called it Today. Thus, the Xquisite Corpse Poem was written and Xquisite Corpse Act One was complete. 
 

I took the term Xquisite Corpse quite literally. With Corpse meaning “body”, as in physical structure, with the root of the word going back to Latin corpus “body".
This work is about the body, the body as a landscape, and whatever surrounds the body, the reality that surrounds the body, also as a landscape. As the body swims through reality it makes wakes and it changes it in someway.

Click to see the Xquisite Corpse Statement…..

Japanese Gardens: A Journey Into Zen /  by Mirena Rhee

Third edition of my book is on Amazon, I was born halfway around The World from Japan but I have long thought of it as my second home, more of a spiritual home.

Japanese, Zen, Garden, Kyoto, Photography, Poetry, Calm.

Mysterious and enigmatic, abstract and impenetrable, the Zen gardens of Kyoto are a product of enlightened and sophisticated culture whose aim was to transcend nature by means of a man made nature.

The empty space, the surrounding landscape and the frame of mind of the viewer are all part of the design. A design that transcends representation, meaning and ideology. A powerful idea distilled to simple ingredients, the evaporation of art as we know it.

The book is a collection of photographs I took and small poems I wrote during my journey to the Zen gardens of Kyoto. I felt it is impossible to untangle their mystery with the rational instrument of reason. It is a stream of visual and versed thoughts on the joyful occasion of simply being there.

The words express my frame of mind, using the verses᠆ superior ability to express my feelings.

This book is about the frame of mind and the geometry of calm that the Zen gardens of Kyoto represent. As there are no explanations on the walls of the gardens as to the meaning of the sand patterns, so is my book void of explanations and floats on a visual lotus, like an imaginary house.

This book is a photographic essay about the Zen gardens of Kyoto, designed specifically for the Kindle and features stunning, high-resolution photographs accompanied by small poems I wrote. It is crafted to create a calm space of the mind, a vision of tranquility and peace.

The title derives its name from an ongoing photographic chronicles - for more photographs of Japan and other projects please, visit dimmerlight.com, for more on the author visit mirenarhee.com

Here is a poem I wrote on occasion of completing the book:

Tranquil world of rocks, sand, trees, shrubs and moss. Little streams water the grounds. The colors are earthy and bright, no gusty winds dishevel the patterns. The wooden floors are swept clean. The mats lie still.

Landscape with peaceful shapes. It makes nice thoughts and asks deep questions. A design with no intent or angle. Whatever you bring you can take back. We don’t know who made it that way.

You can come back many times and find it just the same. Trees bend this way or that. Twigs flow here or there. Ponds flicker. Rocks ripple the sand a little.