art lesson

silk flowers

Windy Hill, GA

Gillsville, GA

Marietta, GA

Did I tell you how I started this whole thing with silk flowers? Here is an excerpt from my thesis on mourning and my discovery of cemetery silk flowers.


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About Mourning

 . . . Repeated gesture of mourning started to take its own life as a ritualistic, if not religious, process in which I once again attempted to reconcile my own childhood. The following writings are a collection of a few of my few aesthetic experiences I have had which were deeply synchronized in my studio practice, especially regarding mourning rituals. These verbal cinemas capture the essence of my mental process and are as valuable as my experimental studio works over the past two years.

About Cemetery Flowers
One day, my colleague took me to one of the largest cemeteries in Georgia where an endless array of cemetery flowers was inserted into the green lawn so precisely. He wanted to show me his grandfather’s grave. My obsession with cemetery flowers started on that first day of visiting the cemetery. After getting permission from the cemetery office, I started my regular visits to the cemetery to collect loads of discarded cemetery flowers into my car. The distinctive colours and smell of the cemetery flowers started to fill up my studio. People started to identify me as the ‘flower girl.’ I started occupying the metallic sculpture studio with fabric cemetery flowers; I would sit for hours taking the flowers apart and re-arranging each item. Not only did the cemetery flowers perfectly symbolize the commemoration of loss and ephemeral beauty, but also they were malleable in my explorative installation, material studies, and performances. It made perfect sense to me.
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Thanks, Danny P.






- G.

Installation day 5 - Final

After finishing the last line -

It is all done as of today - my installation at the Hudgens.

As usual, I expected the installation to be tedious and laborious. For some reason, this installation took me to a roller coaster of emotions, perhaps (to mention about it for first time), due to the pressure of 'competition' and exhibiting with a group of well-established and talented artists. It is my second time my parents being involved in a project with this scale. They shredded flowers for about a month and installed with me for a week. That journey itself has been incredible and I experienced a different layer of emotions with my parents with this project - they've become proficient in the process. I also attempted a wall painting for first time which I was nervous about; it turned out well and in fact, extended my installation into a different dialogue.

All is done, yes.

It was very nice to have met artists during the installation week. There is an interesting energy when arts are getting installed. Here is Hope Hilton's blog about the installation at the Hudgens - http://hopehilton.tumblr.com/post/1625088874/photo-courtesy-gyun-hurs-blog-today-was-day-2
She is a wonderful artist and a person, and my mom and I have been calling her 'so-mang,' Korean word for 'hope.'

I am ready to sleep now. So glad to be done and so thankful for such an opportunity.


- G.

Installation day 4

photo courtesy of Hope Hilton

Today, Scott Ingram and Hope Hilton were also at the site installing. Humming along the music, we all had a great energy there today. Hope brought her parents as well to help with her installations. We left the art center around 6pm with about an hour drive ahead of us.

My parents and I are... t i r e d. 

We picked up Korean style sweet and sour fried chicken for dinner tonight, and I feel a lot better.

We are about two cups short of white color, so we have to cut white flowers tonight for about 2 more hours. Hopefully, by tomorrow, all will be done... wall painting, floor installation, and videos.

Can't wait. It is going to be a fantastic show.

G.

Installation day 3

My parents and I have been talking a lot about my (our) work and I told them today about Cristo and Jeanne-Claude's works. They have been asking me questions to understand more about contemporary installation art and why that is such an important part of art world and why people would care... so I showed them some images of Cristo and Jeanne-Claude's works and explained how people responded. My parents looked at the images carefully and nodded... I think something clicked with them tonight. My dad told me that I should build a house one day for my installation, then he could help me and he would enjoy it a lot more, too. 

My installation process usually takes a few days if not a week, depending on a scale. Today was our third full day of working on the installation, and I love it. My parents are becoming so accurate and sensitive with their hands and eyes. In fact, they are better at the floor installation than I am. They are able to decipher and make decisions now about the floor, so I could concentrate on the wall painting.

So we had an amazing lunch with Korean Instant Ramen Noodles and cold rice. The Hudgens Art Center has a beautiful court yard with a little pond and trees... it felt like having a picnic.

Later today, Mrs. Choe Rhee (she teaches ceramics to Koreans at the Hudgens) and her husband stopped by to help. In fact, their son was one of my spine doctors I saw a few months ago at the Emory Orthopedics! What a small world. Mrs. and Mr. Rhee were so gracious and generous in their spirits and time. Mr. Rhee studied school administration at the University of Missouri (?) in 1960s (oh wow!!!) and immigrated to California in late 1970s to work at the government. They're retired now, and moved to Atlanta about 8 years ago with their son's family. Thank you, Mrs. and Mr. Rhee!

Lunch time

Mrs. Choe Rhee

101th Post!

Hello everyone,

This is my 101th post! I started this blog as a part of my NYC residency at the Elizabeth's Foundations for the Arts that SCAD supported. That was about one and half years ago, doing small entires about my experiences in New York, then to my thesis, solo show at Get This! Gallery... and many other happenings.

This past year, my blog had over 3000 pageviews and this past month October had 1223 page views! That's historical in my life, guys!

Thank you so much, readers, for keeping up with my posts. They are not the most eloquent entries, but I have been incredibly encouraged by some of your responses about the blog. My friends told me they enjoy meeting other artists through my blog and learning more about artists and art making. Also it was awesome to have Creative Loafing and BURNAWAY refer my blog! I want to continue to update you on my artistic journey without making it complicated, and hopefully to refine my voice as a blogger.
I now have opened the comments section, so that I can receive more feedbacks and develop more dialogues. So please feel free to leave your comments and let me know if you would like to see more of something... like art happenings in Atlanta, stories about my art friends, more interviews...?!




The Persistance of Memory, Salvador Dali


Well, I just heard from NPR this morning that Dali's melting clock painting "The Persistance of Memory" just joined the High's current Dali exhibition “Salvador Dalí: The Late Work.” If you ever took art classes in middle or high school, you would have come acrossed this painting at some point. Everyone, go and see this show. I believe more Atlantans participate and show how enthusastic we are about the arts, the city will recognize and invest more in the arts, bringing more exciting art and cultural happenings in the city. And it's a wonderful show.

Ronald Feldman

Also for people in the Atlanta community, join New York based gallery owner, Ronald Feldman and Stuart Horodner, Artistic Director for the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center as they discuss the state of today's contemporary art market. Ronald Feldman is a legendary art dealer who introduced Joseph Beuy's work in the States and was able to make unsalable art marketable. Well, that's something I (Gyun Hur's installations are not marketable, eh hem. -_+;; ) should be going to - it depends on my installation progress today, but if you are free, Go!

Ronald Feldman: On Dealing
Hill Auditorium at High Museum of Art  at 7 pm.
Admission is FREE.


Ok, thanks everyone again for reading! Tonight, I'll post my Installation day 3 photos.



xoxo,
Gyun

Installation day 2

Installation day 1

Post Ox-Bow: Siteless

Bushwick, Reminiscence...

 

I am currently in Bushwick, NY, installing... Andrea's place is really cozy and nice, and I haven't felt urgent to visit museums or galleries, but just to be mellow and chill at her place with sips of beer and watch some birds in the sky. 

Andrea and I ended up reminiscing about Ox-Bow for like 5 hours last night like middle school girls.

Kazumi Shiho just flew from Tokyo, Japan, and unpacking her sculptures.

It's all wonderful here, to see good friends again and laugh and install works.

Installation in progress photos - SCAD Open Studio

Check it out at SCAD-Atlanta if you can.

I had fun doing a floor installation - it's so great the materials are so malleable... adaptable to different spaces. Yet, I know, very fragile. It's always a problematic thing that we have to talk and figure out. But I think that's good! Look at the security ropes around my installation! Wow.

You can also see some of my studies I did at Ox-Bow. It's fresh and new - hah. And buy them if you would like!


More updates to come.

Lots of stuff happening -

Kazumi Shiho

So lots of things are happening next three weeks.

I started my installation at SCAD-Atlanta as a featuring alumnus for its Open Studio Night. I will be showing my recent paintings as well as my floor installation. I will be staying here at school for most of the night tonight. -_-;;

SCAD Open Studio Night in Atlanta

Thursday, Nov. 11th, 7 - 9pm

http://www.scad.edu/news/2010/open-studio-night-atlanta.cfm

This weekend, I will be participating in BETA Spaces (Bushwick Exhibition Triangle of Alternative Spaces) 2010. Andrea Liu, whom I met at Ox-Bow artist residency, has put four artists from the the residency to do a show. I am thrilled to see some of my favorite, amazing artists from Ox-Bow again and re-visit and re-evaluate my piece I did at the residency. And... I will be in NYC!

Post Ox-Bow: Siteless 

The Naxal Belt in partnership with the Art Institute of Chicago Ox-Bow residency is pleased to reunite Fall 2010 artist residents of Ox-Bow for the Bushwick Exhibition Triangle of Alternative Spaces (BETA) Spaces Festival. The unique container of Ox-Bow allowed these artists an openness to a radical intervention into their thinking about art-making, where practices re-form, recapitulate, breakdown and collide. Revisiting the historical de-monumentalization of sculpture from mimesis and representation to Krauss' "expanded field," these sculptors work in varying configurations of materials, process and time; exploiting, elongating and reconfiguring the instabilities inherent in the art object. Jared Buckhiester, Kazumi Shiho, Gyun Hur, Ting Ying Han

Naxal Belt - 175 Jefferson St. #1L, Bushwick, NY
Curated by Andrea Liu

12-7pm
Performance 6:30PM
Artists Talk 7:00PM

http://artsinbushwick.org/beta2010/showdirectory/post-ox-bow-siteless/

And then my installation for the Hudgens Prize Finalists Exhibition will start next week. (Isn't that a bit crazy...?) I will post more stories and photos as the installation progress at the Hudgens Center. I am very thrilled and honored to be a part of this grouping of artists whom I respect. For more information about the prize and the artists, check out http://thehudgens.org/?page_id=1209. You will see an awkward photo of me and some blurbs about artists. The artists are Hope Hilton, Scott Ingram, Jiha Moon and Ruth Dusseault, and they are super rocking artists.


More updates to come...




- G.

asking you for mercy -

Dear readers,

Due to my intense time of cutting flowers, going back and forth between my part-time job and tutoring, and stuff... I would like to ask you for your mercy for a less-frequent entry on the blog.

I have been having exciting and interesting dialogues with people recently... and there are a lot of things for me to chew on. Things like... Arts and Education (moms AND dads, please have your children participate in arts, music, and cultural events. I'll be putting up more information about that), 'siteless,' 'no-placeness,' Atlanta, legitimization, living... whew!

Cutest thing I saw on Halloween day. =)