Installation View. MOONS, Enari Gallery. 2023.

MOONS journeys through the fabric of feminine experiences and socio-cultural conflicts that entwine the narratives and works of Johanna Bath, Amy Beager, Maya Fuji, Ariane Heloise Hughes, Minyoung Kim, and Ioanna Limniou.

The Moon has long been a potent symbol of femininity and the female presence in art, with its soft, luminous glow serving as a muse for countless artists across centuries. Its gentle, ever-changing phases reflect the natural rhythms of life and the world, much like the varied aspects of womanhood. This connection between the Moon and the feminine is deeply ingrained in cultural and artistic representations. The Moon embodies nurturing, intuition, and mystery – qualities traditionally associated with the feminine. It has inspired artists to explore themes of love, beauty, and the sublime, evoking a sense of wonder and introspection.

Artists have depicted the Moon in various forms, from serene lunar landscapes to romantic moonlit scenes, often imbued with a sense of mystery and enchantment. The Moon's soft, silvery glow and cyclical shape mirrors the cycles of life, making it a powerful symbol of transformation and renewal. Its presence in art continues to celebrate the profound connection between the Moon and the feminine, perpetuating a timeless and universal symbol of beauty, mystique, and the enduring power of the female presence in creative expression.

The Moon's role as a source of inspiration for artists underscores women's enduring presence and influence in the creative realm. It serves as a reminder of women's significant contributions to shaping artistic expression throughout history, celebrating their lasting impact on the art world. Moons seeks the fusion of artistic vision and thought-provoking discourse, delving deep into the latent complexities surrounding the female gaze, cultural dynamics, symbolism, innovative feminist theory, objectification, diverse perspectives, and representation.
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Minyoung Kim's surreal compositions explore the regions of anxiety and regret, channeling her experiences into her painting practice. Kim transforms scenes from everyday life into sinister moments by applying cartoon-like expressions to inanimate objects. There are elements of mystery in Kim’s narratives, conveyed through shadows, muted colors, and an almost blurred finish. Kim's paintings have an ominous yet cheerful vibe, with repeating elements like moons, flowers, knives, and anthropomorphic figures. On the other hand, Amy Beager and Maya Fuji cleverly combine antiquity forms with modern ones, giving respect to art history. Amy Beager is inspired by classical Grecian figures but does not forget about the modern world and often uses a lot of abstract, fresh shapes. Similarly, Maya Fuji is moved by traditional Japanese mythology and her multicultural heritage as a mixed-race woman in the United States. Imbuing the complexity of being multicultural, multinational, and multiracial is central to Fuji’s works, as her paintings contrast the nostalgia of childhood memories with underlying feelings of being a foreigner simultaneously navigating Japanese and American communities.

The main themes in Johanna Bath’s works are life and the magic that it holds. Being madly in love with life, Bath’s art is entirely about emotion, as she believes that consuming art should be about the feelings and emotions art awakens in the viewer. In her work, we often see female figures painted in a soft and almost “magical” way. These female figures appear powerful and independent in our present world. In contrast to Johanna Bath’s soft color palette, Ariane Heloise Hughes, uses a vibrant color scheme and a more intricate, sensual characters in her works. The female figure and the female nude are recurring subjects in Hughes’ work. Hughes employs the feminine body as a pictorial trope to instigate an ironical commentary on today’s culture of voyeurism and the perpetuation of idealized online self-representation. Lastly, a more traditional and poetic approach to femininity is given to us through the works of Ioanna Limniou. Her art explores uncharted territories of human perception; Limniou’s works invite us on a profound journey of self-discovery, revealing forgotten and shadowed fragments of everyday life.
FEATURED ARTISTS
In Detail Amy Beager. Conjuring a Miracle, 2023.
Johanna Bath. entrance, 2023. Oil and acrylic glaze on canvas. 50 x 40 x 2 cm.

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JOHANNA BATH

The idea of “time” and everything that is linked to that emotionally such as memory, transience and the brevity of a moment drives Bath's need to paint. Time is abstract and therefore tricky to paint but when connected to our experience and memory, it is filled with sentiment and emotion. When painting, Johanna reflects on those narratives of time and memory and tries to depict "a sense of time" on canvas.

As Bath describes, "my motifs (plants, hands and figuratives in general) are mostly based on a mixed source of imagery - own and collected photographs and/or images sourced from the media. The moment they become subject to a painting, they are put into another context and get transformed into a vehicle for my own thoughts. I am not particularly interested in depicting something perfectly, for example I am not making a painting to show the viewer how a hand or palm tree looks. It is much more about transporting a certain atmosphere. I often feel that as I am making the painting, my consciousness switches off entirely and all of my energy and thoughts that circle around themes such as transience, the present/ the past, memories, etc, become part of the painting and the object gets charged with that."

Bath was born in 1980 in Warendorf, Germany. After her highschool diplmoa in 1999, she moved to Hamburg to get professional training in Illustration Design at Bildkunst Akademie, Hamburg. She finished with a degree in 2002 but felt the need to deepen and expand her artistic skills and applied for Design Studies at the Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaft, Hamburg (HAW). She graduated with a diploma in Design in 2007 with a strong focus on painting.
Amy Beager. Little One, 2023. Oil, acrylic, pastel and marble dust on linen. 30.5 x 30.5 cm.

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AMY BEAGER

Combining classical Grecian figures with fresh, abstract shapes, Amy Beager pays a clever homage to art history. Captivated by the “vitality” of paint, Beager uses a lively mixture of refined and fluid brushstrokes, blending acrylics and oils to create celestial paintings rooted in melodrama. Her romantic compositions, exploring themes of love and tragedy, convey intimacy and melancholy through an alluring color palette of delicate hues like moss green and flamingo pink.

Beager lives and works from her studio in Essex, UK. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Nottingham Trent University in 2010. Beager was recently selected as a winner for the Ingram Prize 2022 and previously The Delphian Gallery Open Call in 2020. She has exhibited at a number of London Galleries including the Saatchi Gallery, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Huxley Parlour Gallery, Unit London and Wilder Gallery among others. She has also exhibited Internationally in Switzerland, Germany, China and at art fairs in Miami and Copenhagen. Beager's work has been acquired by The Ingram Collection, Soho House, Del Arco Collection and placed in multiple private collections globally.
Ioanna Limniou. Shrimp Diver, 2023. Oil on canvas. 90 x 90 x 3.5cm.

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IOANNA LIMNIOU

Traditional Greek imagery, literature, poetry, or observing urban or rural life can all serve as sources of inspiration. Each piece is approached as if it were a tale being told on canvas, with different hues used to convey seriousness, lightheartedness, passion, gloom, and even irony. The combination of her technique and subject matter gives the impression of peering into memory, both the artists and the viewers. Limniou's art explores uncharted territories of human and animal perception. Her works invite us on a profound journey of self-discovery, revealing that we have been carrying ourselves on our own backs all along. Her tapestries paint a picture of the intricate dance of existence, portraying the tender interplay between sentient beings in their natural habitats, the harmonious coexistence of humans and their animal companions, and the rhythmic cadence of daily rituals. In this realm filled with nostalgia and lighthearted humor, Limniou invites us to a space where the past and present intermingle seamlessly.

Ioanna Limniou masterfully weaves a tapestry that seamlessly intertwines historical context with the contemporary, resulting in a space that evokes an almost timeless aura. This effect is akin to the enduring qualities of the figures and landscapes she captures. With every meticulously placed brushstroke and thoughtfully composed canvas, she gracefully ushers us into a dimension where time itself becomes an instrument, harmonizing with the cadence of her artistic vision. Her body of work is a testament to the enduring and unwavering power of artistic expression, offering an earnest and profound invitation to embark on a transformative journey into the very essence of creativity.

Living and working in Athens, Greece, Limniou's paintings feature classical figurative and still-life imagery rendered with an expressionistic aesthetic. As an artist, Limniou integrates the materiality of her mediums in her work. Limniou's art explores uncharted territories of human and animal perception. Her works invite us on a profound journey of self-discovery, revealing that we have been carrying ourselves on our own backs all along. In this realm filled with nostalgia and lighthearted humor, Limniou invites us to a space where the past and present intermingle seamlessly.
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Minyoung Kim. Wash up, 2023. Oil on canvas. 60 x 60 x 3,8 cm.

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MINYOUNG KIM

Minyoung Kim explores the uncertainty of the emotional experience and feelings of anxiety and regret through dreamlike compositions. She channels her personal experiences into her painting practice, with her artworks appearing both eerie and lighthearted through recurring motifs of cats, moons, flowers, knives, and anthropomorphic characters. Her works transfigure moments from everyday life into sinister and surreal scenes, with their strange creatures and cartoon-like qualities.

There are playful elements in Kim's narratives, conveyed through shadows, muted colours, and an almost blurred finish. Her unsettling paintings echo her own personal cynicism, calling attention to the complexities of modern society. In this new body of work exhibited in MOONS, Kim worked with oils instead of acrylic for the first time. As the artist describes, this change in medium was a challenging and personal process of both exploration and rediscovery.

The Korean born artist is currently based in London, UK, and works with different media, which includes drawing, painting, collage, video, and ceramics. Kim graduated from Sungshin Women's University with a bachelor's degree in painting in 2012 and a master's degree in printmaking in 2014. She also earned a second master's degree in painting at the Slade School of Fine Arts in 2021 after graduating from there. She has had numerous solo shows and group exhibitions in different corners of the world.
Ariane Heloise Hughes. End Scene, 2023. Oil on canvas. 40 x 25 x 4,5cm.

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ARIANE HELOISE HUGHES

Similarly, Hughes’ paintings are habitually inspired by her personal observations, both offline and online. She records and photographs elements of everyday life, often even screenshotting images posted by anonymous Instagram users, and refers to these gathered pictures when arranging new compositions. Through her practice, Hughes elevates these commonplace photographs into something more, bridging them into the line of fine art and a tangible space of her own making. Her canvases are enlivened with layers of paint and colour, materialising with new and unusual visual depths and imparting a distinct tactile quality.

Engaging deeply with the aesthetics and history of surrealism, Hughes’ paintings draw on and exaggerate the interplay between the real and the unreal, at once ramifying and enhancing their reading. She uses traditional artistic techniques to re-engage her audience in the act of looking, encouraging us to consider online habits and the passive consumption of images in our digital world today.

Ariane Hughes is a British/Australian painter currently based in London, UK. Hughes graduated from Camberwell University in London in 2019, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in painting. The following year after graduation, she spent a year in Milan assisting sculptor Dario Ghibaudo. Hughes has mostly taken part in a variety of group shows. However, she has had solo shows in Berlin and Los Angeles. Among other galleries, her work has been featured in The Hole in Los Angeles and Brussels and Guts Gallery in London. In addition to exhibiting her works, she has curated two shows in London.
Maya Fuji. I Wash My Rice Until The Water Is Clear II, 2023. Acrylic and glitter on canvas. 40.6 x 50.8 x 3.8 cm.

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MAYA FUJI

A recurring theme in Fuji's work is the exploration of what forms our sense of identity, and how that can shift during one’s lifetime on account of generations living abroad. Imbuing the complexity of being multicultural, multinational, and multiracial is central to her works, as her paintings contrast the nostalgia of childhood memories with underlying feelings of being a foreigner simultaneously navigating Japanese and American communities. She illuminates self-discovery through narration and investigation of the otherness she has felt throughout her life, and uses it as a catalyst to reconnect with and reclaim space within her heritage.

Born in 1988 in Japan and raised in the California Bay Area, Maya Fuji is inspired by both her cultural heritage and the exploration of the liminal space she lives in as an issei (first-generation) mixed-race woman in the United States. Fuji is fascinated by traditional Japanese mythology and folklore, as well as Showa and Heisei–era subcultures, and expands on these themes within the context of her personal experiences.

Solo exhibitions include SWIM Gallery in San Francisco and YOD Gallery in Osaka. She has shown group exhibitions with New Image Gallery in Los Angeles in addition to Glass Rice and Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francisco. Fuji has been featured in publications such as New American Paintings, Friend Of The Artist, It's Nice That, Immigrantly Podcast, and was the winner of the Innovative Grant and was shortlisted for the Hopper Prize in 2023.
As revealed by the exhibited artworks, the journey of the female gaze starts a conversation that goes beyond just aesthetic contemplation. The artists bravely resist the traditional relegation of women to passive objects of visual consumption, proposing a counter version to the classic male gaze. In the spirit of the Moon uncompromising illumination, these artists work together to reveal the textures of existence—the hues and resonances that have hitherto remained hidden.
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MOONS: Johanna Bath, Amy Beager, Maya Fuji, Ariane Heloise Hughes, Minyoung Kim, Ioanna Limniou

INSTALLATION VIEWS

FEATURED ARTISTS

JOHANNA BATH

AMY BEAGER

IOANNA LIMNIOU

MINYOUNG KIM

ARIANE HELOISE HUGHES

MAYA FUJI

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