Jeehye Kwon

Bio

Jeehye Kwon is a Korean-born Jewelry Artist whose work is rooted in the juxtaposition of human-designed architectural constructs against a backdrop of the natural and organic world. This contrast is the medium through which she expresses the examination of the human perspective, developed senses, shared emotions, and imposed cultural norms against the beauty of a biological and uncivilized existence. Jeehye’s work is currently part of the permanent collections at the Los Angeles Contemporary Art Museum (LACMA), California, the Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin, and the Kamm Teapot Foundation in North Carolina. Her work has also been widely recognized through international exhibitions in the United States, Spain, France, Germany, and Greece.
 Jeehye combines the delicate skill of a master jeweler and the strong command of articulating architectural space.
 

Statement

I am inspired by both organic forms and architectures, especially buildings that are under construction. For me, all the details and elements that go into making a building are beautiful—including the reinforcing rod, ferroconcrete, and “skeletal” wood beams. Working with multiple gauges of wire and sheet in varied tones, I bring this mix of structure and spirituality into my own pieces, creating “see-through spaces.”
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I am also influenced by current political and economic circumstances, as well as their interactions on the future of the global climate which all weigh heavily on our state of balance between mother nature and our human constructs.
To describe my work process, I use Jazz as a metaphor because it is organic and fluid. My work starts with a piece of wire which is then soldered to the next to build a continuous structure, after which I move from the creation of one element to another, allowing the first element to influence the second, and so forth without intension until the piece is completed.

My work is hand crafted using classical goldsmith techniques.  My goal is to express different forms of human experience and vision through architectural spaces, while maintaining a sense of lightness, flexibility, and transparency.
 

CV