The Noodle Monk 2008
screenprinted comic series Vol. 1-2



Little Opera, 2011
silkscreened accordion book
edition: 300
open book dimention: 14.5" x 126" (37 x 315 cm)
published by Strane Dizioni, Seripola, Italy
photos and video by Strane Dizioni

Tomi Um's personal illustration projects have a decidedly Buddhist flavor. In the lusciously screen-printed foldout comic The Feast, images of the Buddha and other members of the sangha appear in a joyful riot of color, line, and ink. For an upcoming project, Um is illustrating a narrative called The Noodle Monk. "I've really liked the shape of those curly noodles my whole life, and they're fun to draw," she explains.

In fact, Um's universe is awash in wavy noodle lines, pagoda temples, smiling monks, animal characters, and elaborately detailed monastery scenes, all playfully jostling with the visual structure of comics.



Feast Vol. 4
sreenprinted on paper
edition: 100
dimentions: 41 x 61 cm folded to 10 x 13 cm

The fourth in a series of limited edition fold-out books by Tomi Um. Entitled The Feast, Um's four-volume set tells the story of a group of playful monks obsessed with noodles. In each book, the monks set off on a quest to find or create the aromatic dish, which they eventually eat and offer to Buddha. Screenprinted with silver and red inks, Um's beautifully rendered drawings become more elaborate as the book unfolds, culminating in a poster-size composition aswarm with activity centering on the object of the monks' passion.
-Printed Matter, Inc.-

Um studied fine arts at Parsons The New School for Design and worked for a brief stint in South Korea as an art teacher. She found her calling when she discovered the work of illustrator Yuko Shimizu in The New York Times. After reading interviews on Shimizu's website, Um quit her job, returned to New York, and enrolled in a silk-screen class.

Tomi Um is a noodle obsessed illustrator/ textile designer/ printmaker based in New York City. Born in the year of monkey, Tomi Um studied fine arts and received an undergraduate degree from Parsons School of Design, held various jobs across the globe, which finally led her to realize her passion for illustration. She has been drawing like a mad woman since.

Tomi Um

Household Cleaning Products: SAMURAI



Household Cleaning Products: MECHANIC

Agency: Hancomm, Korea
Executive Creative Director: Woong Yang
Copywriter: Soukjin Choi
Art Director: JaeHyuk Jang/YeonJoo Lee
Account Supervisor: Kimun Han
Advertiser's Supervisor: Hongrok Lee
Photographer: Honik Lee

The Print Ad titled MECHANIC was done by Hancomm advertising agency for product: Household Cleaning Products (brand: Pigeon) in North Korea. It was released in the Aug 2007.



Minoxyl Anti Hair Loss & Hair Regrowth: BLACK

Agency: Hancomm, Korea
Creative Director: Jin Han Ryu
Copywriter: Eun Ae Chae
Art Director: Kirk Wontok Oh
Typographer: Young Chan Kwon
Photographer: Getty Image

The Print Ad titled BLACK was done by Hancomm advertising agency in North Korea. It was released in the Mar 2006.

Hancomm

"No Sleep" is a series of photographs of abandoned mattresses found around New York City, though mostly in Brooklyn. The beds are sometimes seedy and sometimes luminous, pathetic, monolithic and architectural, strange, out-of-place and totally banal. I'm interested in how these beds, although mute, allude to all the things we do on them - sleep, dream, have sex. Dumped onto the streets of New York, the mattresses are impermanent memorials to the city's many private stories.

A monograph of this series, with an introduction by Jonathan Ames

Published by Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg
Hardcover, 96 pages, 60 color ills. 8½ x 10¾ inches



Born in Seoul, Korea, Hee Jin Kang holds degrees from Yale University and the Royal College of Art. In 2002, she had her first solo exhibition at the Shine Gallery in London. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Hayward Gallery in London, Sotheby's New York, the Musée de l'Élysée in Switzerland, and Culturgest, Portugal. Kang received a 2006 New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in photography.



In 2008, she was awarded artist residencies at the Center for Photography at Woodstock and at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, Minnesota. Her work has been published in various magazines, including Blindspot, New York Magazine, Monthly Photo, Art Review, Vogue Hommes International, i-D, Tank and Harper's Bazaar Korea. Her first monograph, NO SLEEP, was published by Kehrer Verlag in September 2011. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Hee Jin Kang







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