“I’m a flower and like all women am a part of mother nature. We have the power to heal everything in society. We can make the world a better place with our love and care.” -Blond Jenny
Blond Jenny is a painter, photographer, and performance artist based in New York City. Her work is a mix of storytelling through her alter ego, cartoon character Blond Jenny, her self-portraits, found objects from nature, 360-degree photos, video, and lenticular photography. Her work talks about her life experiences, social evolution, and culture.
Recent exhibits include Geumgang Nature Art Biennale; Block 2 Video Exhibition Artist Honorarium Raleigh, NC; Feminism Media Artivist Biennale Short Film Exhibit; Photography Department for Kathryn Markel Fine Arts; and MiraBan Art Showcase across Italy. Her work has also been selected by the following shows Hipster & Otaku Photography Exhibition CICA Museum; Trending: Contemporary Art Now Exhibition Target Gallery for the Women’s Caucus for Art; and Duality of Feminine and Feminist Exhibition Gallery 66.
“Blond Jenny’s relationship to nature is intimate, even erotic, in her self-portrait with purple freesias. Floral images have long been a stand-in for sexuality, but in Blond Jenny’s decoupaged panels are more explicit.” – Marilla Palmer
As a child growing up in Seoul, Korea, her parents didn’t let her play with dolls. She was in love with the doll-like blonde hair Japanese characters she saw on TV but never had the plastic toys that her schoolmates had. So, she drew her own characters then made cutouts of those drawings to play with in place of the dolls she couldn’t have. Her favorite character was Jenny, a blonde-haired cartoon with big eyes. Eventually, she made a mask and was able to become her own life-sized doll, Blond Jenny. She used her as a way to escape her fears and tell her stories.
Moving to New York in 2012 was the biggest decision of Blond Jenny’s life and she quickly became nostalgic for Korea. Since then her artwork has been a dichotomy between her memories of Korea and her new life in America. She uses both photography and painting to convey imagery that consists of true and false, reality and fiction.
Blond Jenny Origin In 2006 I adopted the alias Blond Jenny (no “e”). It came from a cartoon character I watched as a child. The character’s name was Blonde Jenny (with an “e”) but when I decide on my name, I wanted it to have a different meaning. In French blond and blonde correspond to masculine and feminine forms. This distinction is not consistently made in English. My Blond Jenny mask has one form but it can be worn by a woman or man. When I use my mask with long hair and a dress, people perceive me as a woman doll. If I wore a man’s outfit and short hair, people would see a man. I wanted to use my mask and my artistic experience to remove the limits of gender and increase my freedom of expression so I made my name blond (no “e”).
My recent work is focused on nature, women’s rights, and American politics. I use video and self-photography with mix media to expand the range of expression in my photography. I started learning drawing and painting when I was in middle school and went on to receive my formal education in Fine Arts from Gachon University, South Korea. After my studies, I taught Korean Art History and Drawing at Gachon University then ran my own art institute and gallery before moving to the United States. I came here to pursue my artistic life and have been in New York for the last 7 years. Living here I have been fortunate to meet many artists including Karen Gutfreund and Priscilla Otani of the Women’s Caucus for Art community and Marilla Palmer who included me in her group show at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts gallery in Chelsea this past year. When I studied in Korea, I was lucky to learn about multimedia. I started with photography when I was in second grade. After that I explored painting, then video, and finally I made my Blond Jenny mask out of resin so I could use it to perform. The medium doesn’t matter to me. The most important things are the ideas and story that I want to share. Sometimes I take videos or capture a single image to use as a print. I also like to capture video clips of my process to tell a story. I continue to develop my techniques so I can challenge the boundaries of my expression. I like to explore new media and play with it as part of my overall story. Some of my favorite recent work uses flower petals. Working with dried flowers for me is a form of therapy. Using found objects from nature is a source of happiness. My intent is to show that with nature or flowers we can be more connected and happy. I have found freedom in nature and I continue to explore the path between life, death, and beyond.
Email blondjennyny@gmail.com
Education
Gachon University, Fine Arts, BFA & MFA, South Korea
BIENNALE
Hong Kong Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong
Padova Art Fair, Padova Italy
Spectrum Miami Art Show, Florida
Nabi Museum of the Arts, New Jersey
AWARD EXHIBITIONS
2019
MiraBan Video Art Showcase, Milan, Italy
Block 2, Video Exhibition – Artist Honorarium, The city of Raleigh, North Carolina
2018
MiraBan Art Showcase, Circolo Aternino, Italy
MiraBan Art Showcase, Via Latina, Rome, Italy
RISE: Empower, Change, and Action, Whitney Modern Gallery, CA
2017
Loss&Lucidity, SANTORA SPACE 205, Santa Ana, CA
Luminous, Juror Danielle Fox, Slate Contemporary Gallery, Oakland, Arc Gallery, San Francisco
Bushwick’s Seeking Space Show, Beyond Studios, New York
Me, My Selfie and I, Hudson Guild Gallery, New York
Super Woman, 107 Bowers Gallery, New Jersey
Duality of Feminine and Feminist, Juror Karen Gutfreund, Gallery 66, New York
2016
NCWCA-sponsored “F*ck U! In the Most Loving Way”, Juror Shannon Rose Riley, Arc Gallery, San Francisco
Call For Bushwick, The Internat, Juror: Benjamin Krause, Sandro Bos, I, Jeanne Brasile, Colin Darke, and John Seed, Brooklyn, New York
Vision: An Artist’s Perspective, Kaleid Gallery for the Gutfreund Cornett Art and UniteWomen.org exhibition, Juror: Suzanne Gray and Michelle Nye, San Jose, CA
A Curious Reality: Exploring the Mythos of Fantasy, Sci-Fi, & Gaming, Jurors: Aaron Miller & Mike Rea, Union Street Gallery, Chicago
Hipster & Otaku Photography Exhibition, CICA Museum, Gyeonggi-do Korea
Trending: Contemporary Art Now, Target Gallery for the Women’s Caucus for Art exhibition, Juror: Elizabeth K. Garvey, Virginia
2015
CICA Museum’s Contemporary Photography Exhibition, Gyeonggi-do Korea
Transforming: Street Objects from Your Street to Main Street. Brooklyn, New York
Digital display. Dreamers Collection Exposure Award, Louvre Museum, Paris France
Working Artists Show, Academic Gallery, New York
2014
The Dream by The Seed, Chashama Gallery, New York
1996
University art award, Bronze. Awarded by the Gungook University, Seoul Korea
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013 Berkeley Gallery, Manhattan, New York
2009 Charaple, Seoul Korea
2008 Charaple, Seoul Korea
2003 Brainfactory, Seoul Korea
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
Loss & Lucidity Show, Fabrica Braco de Prata, Lisbon, Portugal
Pow(h)er show, Benjamin J. Dineen III and Dennis C. Hull Gallery, New Jersey
National WCA – Bridge the gap, A.I.R. Gallery, New York
Woman’s Show, 107 Bowery Gallery, Jersey City
2018
The Hot House, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York
Power Ts 2018, Pierogi Gallery, New York
Eight – Year Anniversary Exhibition, Dacia Gallery, New York
WCA NYC’s Pleasures of the Earth, Callahan Center Art Gallery, New York
Loss & Lucidity, Santora Space 205, California
Kapow! Heroic Women Exhibition, The Pacific Pinball Museum, California
2017
Multi-Lane II, Demouzy Contemporary Gallery, New York
Heroes Last Waltz International Group Show, Charaple Gallery, New York
Nasty Women, Knockdown Gallery, New York
2016
Love Exhibition, Karas Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Potluck Art Party “Eat, Drink and Celebrate Art”, Charaple, New York
Six Years Anniversary Exhibition, Dacia Gallery, New York
Pop up show, K&P Gallery, New York
Engagement & Entrapment exhibition, Gaia Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Landscapes & Cityscapes, Dacia Gallery, New York
2015
Salonukah, Trestle Gallery, New York
Artists Donate in record numbers for AIDS Exhibition, Compass, Miami Florida
Prize Mantovart-star 2015, Mantova Italy
Digital display, Dreamers Collection Spectrum Miami Art Show, Florida
Open Call, Lorimoto, New York
ARTichoke, Townhall, New York
MOCA Gallery Night at Yellow Rose Gallery, Madison Wisconsin
LoveWins show RCB Gallery, Miami Florida
Last Dance at the Old Gem, New York
The beautiful foundation USA Gala, Marriott At Glenpointe, New Jersey
Luhring Augustine, Postcards from The Edge, New York
SIA Gallery, The Artists, New York
2014
Who are you Famalicão?, The Town hall of Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal
ARTichoke, Townhall, New York
8 Holes, Studio 481 Gallery, Piermont, New York
8 Holes, Townhall, New York
Sainte Chapelle Online workshop, Italy
Making a Mark, Oms Gallery, BBCN Bank, New York
Green Point Gallery group exhibit, New York
2013
Group exhibit, Yegam Gallery, New York
2011
Pop Seiren, Ben James, Seoul Korea
Character Replay, Anthracite, Seoul Korea
2008
Final cross energy wave, Charaple, Seoul Korea
Benefit Show_ Brain Factory, Seoul Korea
2006
Street art Festival, Seoul Korea
Kyoungwon University Gallery, Seoul Korea
2005
The 7th Seoul Fringe Festival, Seoul Korea
Survival, Pool Gallery, Seoul Korea
2003
Sicaf, Seoul Korea
Seoul Animation Center, Seoul Korea
A4 Art for No War, Cafe Siwol, Seoul Korea
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