Tiger Banana

Jiha Moon, Tiger Banana, 2023, stoneware, underglaze, glaze, and synthetic hair, 15 34 × 13 12 × 4 in. (40.0 × 34.3 × 10.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art, 2024.12, © 2024, Jiha Moon

Artwork Details

Title
Tiger Banana
Artist
Date
2023
Dimensions
15 34 × 13 12 × 4 in. (40.0 × 34.3 × 10.2 cm)
Copyright
© 2024, Jiha Moon
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art
Mediums
Mediums Description
stoneware, underglaze, glaze, and synthetic hair
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
Object Number
2024.12

Artwork Description

"While [my art] might look Asian, it is all about America." --Jiha Moon
 
Peaches, bananas, Angry Birds, and moon cakes--Jiha Moon's sculptures blend references from Korean and American culture to challenge stereotypes about race, age, identity, and beauty. 
 
The title of this work, Tiger Banana, combines two racist slurs targeting Asian Americans: the first attacks mothers as having ferocious parenting habits, and the second disparages people as Asian on the outside ("yellow") and White on the inside.
 
Moon uses rich glazes to give the ceramic bananas and peaches the mottled look of overripened fruit, offering a humorous critique of society's obsession with youth, beauty, and sex.

Label text from The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture November 8, 2024 -- September 14, 2025

Works by this artist (2 items)

Untitled Pot
Date2024
natural clay with acrylic paint
Not on view
Harlan Reano, Lisa Holt, Untitled pot, 2021, natural clay with acrylic paint, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art, 2021.96
Untitled pot
Date2021
natural clay with acrylic paint
Not on view

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William King, Good Old Days, 1983, aluminum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1985.82.1
Good Old Days
Date1983
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Anna Hyatt Huntington, Llama, 1936, cast aluminum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1967.50.12
Llama
Date1936
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Unidentified, Model of the Virginia, ca. 1929, aluminum and other metals with plastic and painted cloth tape, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.369
Model of the Virginia
Artist
Unidentified
Dateca. 1929
aluminum and other metals with plastic and painted cloth tape
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Alexander Calder, Maquette for Flamingo, 1972, riveted and painted aluminum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, 1980.49.3
Maquette for Flamingo
Date1972
riveted and painted aluminum
On view