Throw the Rope Between Two Holes

ChaeWon Moon

silkscreen, spray paint, vinyl, grommet on wood panel

2018

NFS

Pocket Fish Knife

Areaware

steel and beech

$20

South Korean artist ChaeWon Moon appropriates motifs from instruction manuals, safety signs, and warning labels in her collaged paintings to question the inefficacies, restrictions, and rigid notions of faultlessness. Moon’s directions are enigmatic; the title advises Throw the Rope Between Two Holes, yet the images do not obey her command. The figure throws the rope in the opposite direction of the holes; a face is doused by eye wash, and a white square at the center of the composition reminds us of opportunities to interpret, to act, and to go one’s own way. In focusing on the defiance of orders, Moon invites us to reconsider perceived failures and the possibilities for finding unprescribed purposes and paths.

The accompanying wooden fish at first seems like it might belong to the somewhat nautical scene depicted in Moon’s painting. But, it too is a multifunctional object, a tool that could assist (or not?) in the obscure instructions Moon offers. Designed by Axel Brechensbauer for Areaware, this combination folding knife and bottle opener can be used while camping, picnicking, boating, and fishing. Cut with its knife blade fin, open a bottle with its tail, and imagine yourself in new places and spaces.

ChaeWon Moon is an artist currently living in South Korea. She received her MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. Areaware is a New York City-based producer of everyday objects that are functional, unusual, humorous, and poetic. Artist and designer Axel Brechensbauer is based in Sweden.