Moon has been working with Legos as an art medium since 1996. For her third exhibition at this gallery she will introduce her early works, such as a 30.5 x 30.5 cm square of colored Plexiglas and Mondrian’s Corner series. Current works such as lunchboxes will also be included to show how she has evolved her Lego works over time. Viewers will experience how playthings or toys become modernist works.

At first Moon applied actual Lego figures such as Indians and guns as political references, but she eventually began focusing on Legos’ formal qualities using architectural element such as doors and windows. She also used the architectural symbols for doors. Her fascination with the precise structures in Lego is realized in her work as modernist architectural components, while the Lego toys themselves add an element of nostalgia. Keeping the dimensions constant at 30.5 x 30.5 cm, she tried to experiment with the possibility of variations within a limited space

Lori Waxman wrote in Artforum.com in 2003 that “She applies the modular playthings to form geometric compositions. If Judd assembled milled aluminum in a way that enabled us to its innate material qualities, Moon composes Lego components to draw out their dual function as child's toy and universal building block.”

In 2002, she started a series of Lego suitcases and lunchboxes. Jaye Moon's Lego Lunchbox series emphases the transformation of contemporary life style into an increasingly portable mode. The architecturally inspired sculptures reconstruct daily life in accordance with technological advancements. Through the use of fluorescent plexiglas, the insides of the boxes appear to be lit up. However, there is no electronic equipment or artificial lighting present in Moon's work. The luminous effects create the illusion of artificial light.

Moon uses the luminous effect of the Plexiglas in the Mondrian Corner series as well. By incorporating Mondrian's grid of vertical and horizontal lines and primary colors with Legos, her corner pieces create architectural elements that simultaneously become part of the sculptures.  

In 2010, Moon started combining all of the elements of her previous Lego works to create site-specific Lego public art in the form of tree houses and wall drawings in urban landscapes. By integrating actual architecture and nature with Lego bricks, she tries to share her ideas with the public. Her public Lego projects were shown in various locations in the US including New York City, Miami and Nebraska, as well as in England and Korea. Jaye Moon will participate in Roppongi Art Night with her interactive art project “Web City”, which is her first public Art project in Japan.   

Jaye Moon is a Brooklyn based Korean artist. She received her MFA from Pratt Institute. She has previously exhibited at the Queens Museum, Newman Popiashvili Gallery, DUMBO Arts Center, White Columns, and Artists Space in NY; Galeria Max Estrella in Madrid, Spain; and Gallery Momo in Tokyo, Japan. She won the Pollack Krasner Foundation Grant, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), and AHL Foundation grant. Also, she participated in the CJ Art Studio Residency program in Korea, Fountainhead Residency and BRIC/Rotunda Gallery Video Residency in the US. Her work was reviewed in Art in America and Artforum.com, and she was selected as a top ten artist in NADA Art Fair in Miami in 2012.

I am interested in architectural space and manipulating objects. I chose Legos because they are associated with architectural forms, ready-made objects based on industrial and mechanical functions.  I’m also interested in Legos as toys.  Toys are childish and innocent, but they are impersonal and objective as well.  By using toys as objects, I try to find my identity through a universal concept that is detached from the concepts of culture and individual personality. 

My work has gradually been changing.  In the beginning, I applied actual Lego bricks and doors to the Plexiglas.  I also used the architectural symbols for doors, but gradually began to concentrate on more abstract elements, using plastic rods in order to create simple lines while using less Lego blocks.  The size of the work was also important.  I used 12” x 12” sheets of Plexiglas.  Keeping the dimensions constant, I tried to experiment with the possibility of variations within a limited space.      

Later I tried to focus on creating a series of suitcases and lunchboxes, which contain living spaces inside.  They are also made out of Legos and Plexiglas.  To make my suitcases, I used stainless steel handles, hinges and latches on the suitcases so you can open, close and carry them around with you like your own home.  These days we live in portable and instant living conditions. I wanted to create modern architecture using concepts of portable and instant lifestyles, which are prevalent in our society.  

I used semi-translucent white and fluorescent Plexiglas.  I was intrigued by the reflection of the fluorescent Plexiglas because the reflected light from the semi-translucent surface creates a more subtle and integrated effect than using electrical lighting in a piece. The reflections are like minimal paintings.