Myungja Anna Koh Gallery

  Traces of habit 5/14/2021 0 Comments   Routine and Ritual Today, my husband called me to show me something in our backyard. He pointed out to a place on the grass and told me, "Anna, here's the place where the rabbits are used to sit. It has a different grass pattern and some exposed soil on it." In our region, rabbits run across homes and yards. Occasionally they make their burrows under the ground, secretly. There is one spot where two rabbits habitually sat down until they deformed the grass under them. As I watched these two rabbits, I recognized that their routine warped the grass and paved it with ample space to sit.  ​  Which tracing can be the result of my daily practice?  Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, Mason Currey ​​In the book  Daily Rituals: How Artists Work,  Mason Currey investigates the rituals of successful people and how their effect on creativity. These daily routines include making your bed, getting ready for class, or taking a b...

  Andreas Helmling 5/15/2021 0 Comments   Artist Andreas Helmling The town when I have been in Germany, Karlsruhe, is a city in southwestern Germany. It is north of the Black Forest, close to the French border, and is famous for two of the highest federal courts (the Federal Constitutional court and the Federal Court of Justice) and a central hub for science and technology. Also, it has a former weapons factory, now transformed to ZKM center for art and Media.   You can also recognize eye-catching status made of sharp stainless in front of the main buildings if you visit there. When I was used to going to Ettlinger Tor, the biggest shopping center in Baden-Wuerttemberg. I was interested in the blue sculpture. (In 2011, the status moved from Ettlinger tor Platz to state entrance because of its symbolic value and renovation from the state plan). It is big-sized blue stainless artwork, representing the blue for Europe and describing the symbol for existing and future. I...

  Sonnets no. 29 by William Shakespeare 5/17/2021 0 Comments   Art in a Poetry Sonnet, Acrylic, 10x 10, 2011 Myungja Anna Koh   "When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,  I all alone beweep my outcast state,  And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,  And look upon myself and curse my fate,  Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,  Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd, Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,  With what I most enjoy contented least. Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. " ​                     -  Sonnets no. 29 by William Shakespeare Until I purely find my world and identity in the painting, it was s...

  First impression 5/18/2021 0 Comments   First impression of New York  One of my routines is to bring my child to the playground as soon as school is over. Thankfully, it brings me little jewel-like joy when I asked and had a small talk with parents who watch their children playing.   In Korea, someone asks something to others without reason, and they are treated as strange people.  That's why Korean are usually reluctant to talk to street persons who they don't know before. To do that, they have some purpose of selling things or mission work to say "Trust in Jesus."   But, in America, small talk is familiar scenery anywhere, that I think it's an excellent way to expand our range of interests, activities, and knowledge.   Every so often, I meet a person who has the same situation as an immigrant. And then I am pleased to ask what is the impression of America. To that question, many people give different answers depending on their own un...

  Immigrant Artist 5/19/2021 0 Comments   Movie Minari review The film, Minari by pancinema ​ The film "Minari" is a classic immigrant story with specific details that many people can relate to their life. The story begins when the Korean American father, Jacob(Steven Yeun) of an immigrant family, heads to Asokan, a rural town in the United States, to fulfill his American dream. They came from Korea in the 1980s to live a better life, and As a means of living, they work as a chick gender inspector in a California factory. However, Jacob is disillusioned with his monotonous job and wants to show his daughter, Anne, and six-year-old boy, David, the ideal image of the head of a householder who realized his dream as a farmer. But his wife, Monica(Jeri Han), disagrees with his future goals and wants to return to California for a stable life and treat David's heart disease. The only tension that leads to a calming movie like this classical music is the conflict between Jacob an...

  Dollar Tree 5/19/2021 0 Comments   What is an art   Yesterday I took my daughter to the Dollar Tree store for a while. Dollar Tree, formerly known as Only $1.00, is an American chain of discount variety stores that sells items for $1 or less. In Europe, One euro shop seems to play the same role. Dollar Tree is a store that my daughter loves because she can put her favorite toys in a shopping cart without some restrictions from her mother.   Someday, I've seen a friendly grandmother and grandson in a store before. First, the grandson asked his grandmother, "Can I put everything into the cart when I want?" Then she answered, " By all means! my sweety". After that, the little boy smiled with a lovely expression as if he had the power of the world. So the scenery in my memories remains until now, like a scene from a movie about humanism. ​ Whenever children visit the dentist in Germany, the dentist shows them a giant size toy box after treatment. Inside ...

  Art in a pandemic 5/21/2021 0 Comments   Art in a pandemic Nowadays, the weather is excellent, so I often come to the yard to see the crystal clear blue sky. If I remember, around this time of last year, the sky was as clear and bright without any impurities as today. Simultaneously, the picture-like-sky seen by us, isolated as a pandemic, was another form of comfort. So I took a picture like this to keep the message of hope.  Blue sky in 2020, Myungja Anna Koh Now, people are getting vaccinated in earnest, and finally, cases are decreasing. The vaccination rate is 52.2% in our county, and the positive test rate is 1.4 %, and the vulnerability level is medium. So now, people are cautiously talking about hope for the future.   When I first heard the news that we had to shut down due to the Covid virus, I went to Costco to be sure to maintain at least a 30-day supply. But as you all know, the toilet paper was sold out, and there was no way to get eggs and bread....

  The healing power of Art 5/22/2021 0 Comments   Healing in art   When I used to work in the hospital as a nurse, I have applied for the Nursing Literature Award hosted by the Korean Nurses Association. Unexpectedly, after working, a poem written in the library was selected as the first winner. Here is the poem.  Paper boat in 1980 (by Myungja Anna Koh) Pouring rainy day, like a sadly crying child in 1980. Brother and I folded a piece of white paper so, Made a paper boat. Then we float a little ship away on the road that had become a river. May my little carrier reaches my father, who suddenly left. And pick up him and bring to come back home. May he can read us a bedtime story again.  So we wanted desperately. In a dark and small room, In loneliness and worries without a single ray of light, We waited for him, who had not returned. Filled that dark empty with tears and sadness. We wrote a letter with that heart and folded it. One day, suddenly, someone sailed ...

  A small art world in the microscope 5/24/2021 0 Comments   Art & Science  When working as a researcher at the Medical Information Research Center, I planned a microscopic photo exhibition. My boss, Professor Young-Sung Lee, visited the US for a while and was impressed by the microscopic photo exhibition hosted by Kodak Film and wanted to realize it in Korea. It was my job to implement his idea that the medical field is also a knowledge industry that creates infinite content. So I mainly organized an offline exhibition on one side and, on the other side, an online collection, planning and promoting shows and managing the contents.   Professionals working in the medical department are incredibly reluctant to create something without evidence. A fatal accident occurs when they make something without any continuous groundless experimentation. In general, it seems that art that constantly creates new things and medicine that continuously learns the old theories...

  Online flower shop selling painted flowers by an artist 5/26/2021 0 Comments   A painted flower shop   Besides being a painter when I was a child, my other dream was to become a florist. Once upon a time, there was a small flower shop nearby my house, and the young woman florist who sold flowers was so pretty and elegant. She always wore a dress that looked like artwork with flower patterns, and she always smiled whenever I had eye contact with her. Everyone in the world was busy eating and living, and life seemed like a battlefield, but somehow I felt that the flower shop was a different world, like a paradise. Is it the reason I received a little comfort from flowers in a difficult life? I have loved flowers since then. However, now I know that even the inside of the flower shop was like a field of thorns.     Still, I may have wanted to live as pretty and elegantly as the florist in the messy reality. So art was like a flower shop to me in that se...