Diana Nicholette Jeon

Diana Nicholette Jeon follow American

Lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Projects/Portfolios

Nights as Inexorable as the Sea Diptychs

Introduction

Nights as Inexorable as the Sea Artist Book Objects

Introduction

I, Orfeo

Introduction

STATEMENT:

Several years ago, my husband and I had a miserable fight fraught with drama and fury. He slammed the door and walked out, declaring loudly that he wanted a divorce.

The next morning, I stood at the front of my classroom. When I opened my mouth to lecture, I instead burst into tears. The only thing I could see and hear were Rilke’s words about Orpheus and Eurydice:

The god put out his hand to stop her, saying, with sorrow in his voice: He has turned around--, she could not understand, and softly answered Who?

I, Orfeo represents my attempt to process that which I did not expect and I could not–even now, several years later–conceive; a visual allusion to what I felt and experienced. Creating it was heart-wrenching, challenging, and yet strangely affirming; filled with despair as well as catharsis.

In telling only one side of a two-person tale, “I, Orfeo" simultaneously reveals and occludes. By revealing the inherent duality contained within a one-sided telling, it conveys the dichotomy found in perception, memories, and photography itself.

PRESENTATION

The work consists of a series of 10 diptychs. Each half of a diptych is printed by me on Hahnemuhle Baryta FA archival paper using archival Epson pigments. Each is cut to size, mounted flush to 1.5" cradled wood panels then hand-coated with two to three coats of hot encaustic media. Each half is framed in a black wood floating frame and is 18" w x 22" h x 1.75"d.

PROCESS

I, Orfeo is a work that I began the first week of October, 2015. The photographs here represent the entire story, but only some of the images. Ultimately, I intend to create a small edition handmade artist photobook using the complete series. Over time, I refined the ideas from a series of individual portraits to a series of diptychs consisting mainly of a human presence paired with a landscape.

The portraits of the woman for this series were shot with a plastic Holga lens jerry-rigged to a Moment Telephoto lens then attached to the iPhone 6s Plus using Command Strips. The imagery was manipulated on the iPhone only. I shot the landscape images in Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard over a period of several years, mostly using low tech (older model) iPhones for the “plastic" look and feel. Phone models ranged from the three 3G through the 5s. The flaws in the imagery and the coloring are intentional, there to lend turmoil and emotion to the visual representation.

Self-Exposure

Galleries

Biography

Honolulu, HI-based artist Diana Nicholette Jeon attended the University of Hawaii where she received a BA in Studio Art (2003.) She subsequently was awarded her MFA in Imaging and Digital Art from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (2006.) She spent seven years teaching digital imaging and motion graphics at the college level in Hawaii before working full time at producing art beginning in 2013.

Jeon's work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and Europe. "Nights as Inexorable as the Sea" will be featured as a solo exhibition at Distortion Gallery in Sydney, AU as part of the Head On Photo Fest as well as at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, OR. Recent solo exhibitions include Honolulu Museum of Art, A Smith Gallery (TX), Truth and Beauty Gallery (BC), and Kirsch Gallery at Punahou School. Group exhibition venues include Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Honolulu Museum of Art, San Diego Art Institute, the Hawaii State Art Museum, Soho Photo (NYC), and PH21 (Budapest HN) and Tethys Gallery (Florence, IT.)

She has received multiple awards for her work including Overall Winner, Cell Phone Series Winner, five category Runner-Ups and one category Honorable Mention in the 11th Julia Margaret Cameron awards; four Recognition Purchase Awards from the Hawaii State Foundation of Art and Culture; three Silver awards in the 2018 Moscow International Foto Awards, Finalist in the 10th Julia Margaret Cameron awards as well as in two categories in the 2016 Pollux Awards; 1st Place at the 5th Annual Mobile Photo Awards.

Jeon has been interviewed by and her work has been featured in a wide array of international publications, including Gente di Fotografia, Pf Magazine, ArtDocs, Shots magazine, The OD Review, the Huffington Post, Lens Culture, In the In-Between, The Hand, Don't Take Pictures, Binfeng Space Art/Culture magazine, PhotoPhore, Corriere della Sera, L’arena and the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

Her works are in many public and private collections, including four works in the State of Hawaii Art in Public Places program. Additionally, her work is held by the International Printing Museum, the Albert O. Kuhn Library Special Collections Department at University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Haverford College.

Jeon is represented in The Print Room at Truth and Beauty Gallery in Vancouver, BC.

Art Photo Index Info

All PDFs

Collections

Alerts

About Art Photo Index

FAQs

Organizations Included

Email Us

505.988.5152 x111

Projects/Portfolios

Galleries

Biography

Website

Contact

Social Network