MOVING STILLNESS , 2024

Solo Show at Heather Gaudio Fine Arts

Greenwich, Connecticut

On view are Hur's contemporary interpretations of the Moonjar, (Dalhangari), an iconic traditional Korean ceramic spherical vessel from the Joseon Dynasty (1300s-1900s) which were used for storage and rituals. Historically, the unadorned spherical porcelain jars celebrated universality, imperfection, and purity.  The wheel-thrown traditional forms embody the ideals of a harmonious balance between two opposed yet connected hemispheric halves that are joined in the middle. In Hur's hand-built reinterpretations, the spheres burst out into multiple directions suggesting movement, folds, changes and new possibilities and beliefs. The surfaces echo the shapes, with more gestural, spontaneous brushstrokes adding a visual vitality and contrast to the tranquil, two-dimensional works in the exhibition. The duality of Moving Stillness offers transformative spaces where viewers are invited to pause, contemplate, heal, and awaken to higher, multifaceted versions of themselves.

The vessels are presented in relation to her canvas works that honor her Korean heritage of Hanok, the classic home in Korea made of wood, stone, and Hanji paper (traditional hand-made mulberry paper). These typically have an open courtyard that creates a void - an empty space for the ever-changing surrounding nature to enter. In Korean architecture, the positioning of the house and configuration is deliberate and relation to its environment, with thought given to nature and the seasons. Hur gives this same type of consideration to her works on canvas mounted with hand-torn Hanji, which are reminiscent of folding screens and doorways that suggest a threshold, a passage and continuum into the unknown. These are intended to extend beyond the physical, as practiced in Buddhism, where emptiness is a place of release, and renewed perspectives and energies can be regenerated. The contemplative aesthetic of her canvas works offers the viewer a portal to an interior space where we can enter a meditative state. In stillness one can become observant and embrace the shifts that occur both within and around us.