Flower Cutting DONE!

First batch of colors in kimchi jars

Our clean basement! We dusted it off!!!

So we are officially DONE with flower cutting!

It has been a long journey... spending countless hours in the basement since beginning of December, we spent about three months preparing flower materials for the Lenox project - Spring Hiatus. 
It is going to be exciting to see all of prepared shredded flowers laid on the floor in the middle of Lenox Mall. My list of possible volunteers is growing... and it is happening in a week!

Proper Medium did a beautiful job capturing the process of flower cutting. You will get a good sense of what took place in the basement, cutting flowers. Click here --> http://www.fluxprojects.org/films/007.html

I will be posting daily updates when the project starts, so stay in tune!


- G.

Lenox Site Visit with Flux

 

Lenox Mall site for the installation (taken from above)

So Anne (Flux Projects executive director), Lloyd (Get This! Gallery), my parents, and I did our last Lenox site visit a few days ago.

This idea of doing the installation at Lenox started about a few months ago with Flux, and it is finally happening! It has been an amazing experience for me to work with Flux to actualize this project on an ambitious scale - 16 ft by 30 ft. For more information on the project Spring Hiatus and Flux, go to http://www.fluxprojects.org/hur/index.html. 

We are almost done with flower cutting (it's been almost three months since we started cutting), and incredibly thrilled to start the installation at Lenox Square Mall. The location is quite amazing. Right between the Macy's entrance and Sephora, it also got the second floor where you can have an aerial view of the installation. Oh fantastic!

For first time, the installation process will be viewed in public. As people are engaging in the process of installation, I hope that there will be curious dialogues and somewhat empathetic silence. We are planning to start the installation on March 1st and finish on March 12. 

We are still looking for some volunteers for installation process as well as docents, so please let me know if you are interested. I will post more details soon!

- G.

Cutting Evening Photos

So Flux Projects offered to coordinate a flower cutting evening!   
And we did it.

With 6 paper cutters, 2 scissors, and a bag of green flowers, we went out to cut. It was quite fun for me to share this experience of shredding and to chat and eat together. Thank you for those who came out to help: Louis C., Anne D., Stephanie D., Jane G., Leslie J., , Seana R., Paris, and Laurie W.. . .  You were wonderful.

We are going to hold another cutting evening next Tuesday at 6PM. If you are interested in helping, e-mail me at gyunhur@gmail.com for more information.


Thank you!

- G.

Cutting Evening -

Hello everyone,

I am having a cutting evening with Flux Projects team tomorrow evening at 6PM. If you are interested, please e-mail me at gyunhur@gmail.com. I will give you more information how you can join us!

Thank you very much,
Gyun

Late Night Thoughts - placeness, blogging and twittering, Lenox project, writing, this weekend . . .

Studio calendar to keep track with schedule and number of cups of shredded flowers

So I'm up late tonight - with so many thoughts on my mind. To process my mind, I turned myself to blogging - oh dear. Where did that good, old writing on a journal go?

I, in fact, have been thinking a lot more about my blogging. As it is my resolution to polish up my blog this year, I also want to get more serious about writing as well. English is my second language, so I know my writing is lacking in its correct grammar. I also would like to see if I could improve my creative/critical writing, considering myself becoming a consistent art blogger and a commentator. Hey, I wanted to be a writer as a young girl, and if not a serious author, I still could be an interesting blogger at least!

This thing called 'social media' is changing the way artists represent themselves. We definitely have more control over our representation and persona. And this blogging activity allows an artist to process happenings around her, promote art events in community, share about art making with others, and critically develop an artistic voice that is valuable to the community as well as to other artists. 

According the website Zitzsolution, "Facebook has over 250 million users globally. On an average, 70-100 tweets happen by the second. An average user on Facebook has 120 friends." Now, that's mind boggling for real.  

I haven't quite figured out twittering thing yet. Well, I do not have a smart phone, so that explains much of it. Yet, I just found out people check out my blog via tweeter more than I expected! So I just changed the background of my twitter, so that it looks nice. Check it out and follow me! http://twitter.com/#!/gyunhur 

 

Placeness - is also on my mind. I want to revisit Miwon Kwon's One Place After Another.  I will do a post about her writings and thoughts on placeness and site-specificity, which will become essential in developing my conceptual approach to the Lenox project with FLUX in March. Here is great a quote regarding issues of an individual's contextualized identity in community/place. http://www4.ncsu.edu/~sttwn/vzc.htm

How is it possible to throw light on individual and community fragmentation: of the loss of the traditional definitions of identity, community/"place" and "site"? How do we frame our identity, whether as the exoticized subjects of the community where site-specific art is created, or as the exoticized persona of the interventionist artist, and who is left out?

Korean journalist Ms. Kim called me this morning to ask me about my artist talk at the Hudgens this Saturday. She asked me what I would be presenting during the talk and if it would be all right for Korean speaking audience to come. I said, "of course!" To her question, "what would you like for people to get out of your talk?" I mentioned how I would like Korean immigrants like my parents and myself to have an opened mind and curiosity about contemporary art. They should not feel intimated or distant just because it is unfamiliar. Ultimately, where my art stems from isn't too different from their life stories. I hope they can somehow relate to my story and artwork.


* * *
Lenox project is coming up in a few weeks.  I had a meeting with FLUX and Lloyd (Get This! Gallery director) and I am getting excited about this ambitious project. There will be a lot of logistics to figure out, but it's an incredible challenge and opportunity for me. I will be posting about 'volunteering' and 'installation process,' so stay tune.

FLUX projects are funding a few more artist projects this year. To check out more about their projects, go to http://www.fluxprojects.org/projects.html.

To Do List for me this weekend:

Friday, Jan. 21, 2011

The Museum of the Contemporary Art of Georgia

Movers & Shakers: MOCA GA Salutes the Rising Stars of the Georgia Arts Scene

Exhibition Dates: January 22 - March 19, 2011

Opening reception: 6:30-7:30pm

 

Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011

The Hudgens Center for the Arts

Artist Talk at 11AM
For direction, go to http://thehudgens.org/?page_id

Get This! Gallery

Life Iconic

Print show curated by: Jiha Moon
January 22 - March 05, 2011
Opening reception: 7-10pm

Rich Theater, Woodruff Art Center

Iranian Film Today

Women Without Men

8 pm / To buy tickets, go to

http://www.high.org/main.taf?p=4,3,2&eventId=742&eventTypeId=8

   

Maybe I will see you around this weekend! Just don't judge me if you see dark circles under my eyes and say 'hi.' -_-;

- G.

Snow in Atlanta, Snow Crab, More Cutting -

Atlanta got covered with snow and freezing rain past 2-3 days. My first attempt to go out to the world miserably failed after sliding on our driveway. My parents and I did not bother to clean out our driveway when it snowed - have we ever had to do such a thing? No. We all assumed it would melt quickly. I now have to wait until ice melts... -_-;;

Atlanta is definitely not equipped for such weather. Schools have been closed for 3 days so far, and most of employees at where I work also could not make it to office today, that includes myself. Thousands flights got canceled and I'm not sure about young children, but most of us are eager to get back to our normal routines of things. Well, it definitely was a treat to have two full studio days though, as many other Atlanta artists commented on facebook. ^_^

 

Before this snow storm, we went to Marietta Fish Market last weekend and had delicious snow crab. My parents were always curious about that American restaurant, and never ventured it for themselves. My mom had Mango Margarita for first time and loved it. It is a great pleasure for me to finally treat them with my own money for dinner. They are continually being incredibly supportive in my preparation for the project in March.

Literally stuck at home, my parents and I had the most productive two days of cutting flowers. For the project in March at Lenox (funded by FLUX projects), we are estimating to cut about 700 cups - about 80 - 90 cups for each color. We are now almost done with our fourth color, purple, which took us about 6 weeks . That means we're almost half way done. 6 more weeks until the installation. We are excited yet physically quite challenged.

In this year of 2011 . . .

Happy New Year! Here is a list of things that I am looking forward to this year of 2011.

1. Shirin Neshat's Women Without Men 

Shirin Neshat, Rapture, 1999, video still

Oh yes! I saw Shirin Neshat's fim Rapture for first time during my graduate school (Thanks, S.K.) and was completely captivated by its poetic insertion of 'bodies' in the midst of landscape. Narratives are somewhat disorienting, isolated, and chaotic. No words, yet I felt so drawn to the film's non-verbal languages and psychological tensions. I hope I get to see that film again.

Here is an excerpt from an interview with Shirin Neshat from Bomb site: http://bombsite.com/issues/73/articles/2332.

"In all my work, I am dealing with issues that address historical, cultural, sociopolitical ideas; but in the end, I want my work to transcend that and function on the most primal and emotional level. I think the music intensifies the emotional quality. Music becomes the soul, the personal, the intuitive and neutralizes the sociopolitical aspects of the work. This combination of image and music is meant to create an experience that moves the audience. It is an expectation that I have as an artist and I want that intensity from any work of art; I want to be deeply affected, almost like asking to have a religious experience. Beauty is important in relation to my work. It is a concept that is most universal, it goes beyond our cultural differences."

Shirin Neshat's most recent film Women Without Men will be viewed at Rich Theater (Woodruff Center, Atlanta) on January 22nd as a part of its Iranian Film Series. I am thrilled to watch this film. For more information, go to http://www.high.org/main.taf?p=4,3,2&eventId=742&eventTypeId=8.

Iranian Film Today

Women Without Men

January 22, 2011, 8 p.m.

Rich Theater

http://www.high.org/main.taf?p=4,3,2&eventId=742&eventTypeId=8

2. Marina Abramovic in Atlanta and deFINE 2011 at SCAD

Artist is Present, Marina Abramovic

Another huge woman artist is coming to Atlanta - Marina Abramovic. After her legendary retrospective at MoMA Artist is Present, she indeed has established herself as 'a grandmother of performance art.' Savannah College of Art and Design is honoring Abramovic's works with featuring lecture and exhibition series. During Feb. 22 - 26, SCAD will be hosting lectures by prominent figures in the art world, special exhibitions, commissions, panel discussions, student showcases, performances and many other events. And of course, Marina Abramovic will be speaking as well. My calendar is marked! For more information, go to http://www.scad.edu/news/2010/define-art-2011.cfm.

Yoko Ono

I am also looking forward to an opportunity to see "Spirituality of Place", a group exhibition featuring works by Yoko Ono, Andy Goldsworthy, Mona Hatoum, Do Ho Suh, Kimsooja, and others in Savannah. My art heroes all together!!!

3. Lenox Project

I have been cutting, cutting... flowers in the basement until late at night. That will continue until February in order for us to launch my Lenox Project with Flux Projects in March. This will be my largest floor installation so far. This is all so very exciting. I will be posting details of progress on this blog! Flux Projects is also looking for project proposals. Deadline is February 28, 2011. To apply, go to http://www.fluxprojects.org/.

4. Stay Here in Atlanta Project

So Idea Capital gave me a grant of $500 for my project Stay Here in Atlanta. For one year, I will write letters, visit studios, and buy lunches for young artists in Atlanta like myself. And I will write about young artists I meet on my blog. Not only will I get to introduce these young artists to the public via blogging, I also get to then create a sense of community of young artists here in Atlanta. Being an artist itself is hard enough. I think having free lunches with good conversations would be something artists would enjoy - I know I will! So thank you, Idea Capital!!

Michael David Murphy quotes on his blog Whileseated, (another artist bloggger!!!)

"It's been awhile since I've seen a project (or proposed project) that has the potential of Gyun's to impact the community in such a surprising, significant, affordable and understated way. Four years since I arrived in Atlanta, I know there's a big struggle to develop and retain artists here, and it's refreshing to see a local artist (and granting intiative) putting their time & money toward this in such a simple and potentially effective way."

I have been compiling a list of artists I would like to have lunches with. If you have any recommendations, please let me know!

To apply for Idea Capital grant, go to http://www.ideacapitalatlanta.org/apply_temp.php.

5. Solo Shows at mosnart and Hudgens

Incredibly thrilled to have two solo shows this year.
One in Chicago (!!!) at mosnart and one at The Hudgens Center for the Arts. More details to come later.

  6. Art.sy - "the Pandora of the fine art world"

 

So Forbes Magazine named this new website as one of "Names You Need to Know in 2011." This new website project "will link art galleries all over the world with enthusiasts and potential buyers." In this increasingly connected world based on social media, we will have to see how this website "the Pandora of the fine art world" will function in the midst of art world as well as general public. Forbes blog quotes:

"Third, it’s the first attempt to really bring the high-end art market online to really disrupt the art world, bringing it not only online but actively opening up to a wider audience through social networking and innovative te. The Internet has disrupted the music and fashion industries, how has the art world managed to elude it for so long? (Sure, you can find some really cool photography and beautiful illustrations on Etsy, but you won’t find any Koons or de Kooning.) Art.sy will change all that. It has the potential to really shake up and transform the art industry–and to open it up to a greater number of people, to democratize it in a way (the way Project Runway and Sex and the City and blogs and H&M designer collaboration democratized fashion). That is really exciting."

7. Polishing up gyunhur.blogspot.com

So here is one of my new year resolutions - to polish up my blog. As I have mentioned, I am not an eloquent writer, yet I have been enjoying 'art blogging' this past year. Thank you so much, readers. I have gained more readers now, and feel more encouraged to continue to commit myself to blogging. As Jason Parker from artRelish advised, I would like to be Committed, Consistent, and Credible with this blog.  I plan to continue to share my stories in art making, my artist friends, art happenings - in ways that de-mystify artists (we're just normal people with special drives and passions) and introduce contemporary art in a non-hierarchical way.

I would like to encourage more artists to blog and develop critical and influential voices to a wider artistic audience. Initiating artist-driven conversations and participating in critical dialogues will energize art communities and possibly have general audience to be more familiar with art making and artists.

Thank you, everyone, and let's have a great year 2011!!!


- G.

Stay Here in Atlanta

When I talk to some people in Atlanta art community, the ultimate questions comes down to this:

"How do we then make this city of Atlanta a great center of arts and culture?" 

No, we don't have MoMA, Guggenheim, PS1... or SAIC or... the Bean that makes you feel better about being warped and being an artist. No, Atlanta is not a great walking city nor an efficient transportation city and it is slow. Right, Atlanta is so polished, somewhat restraining for young artists with this raw urge of creativity. When an artist puts something like "working in New York" or "Brooklyn-based artist," all sudden, it sounds legit and cool.

Yet Atlanta has a huge potential in becoming a great city of arts. It won't look like New York or Chicago or LA, and it shouldn't. I am going to be an optimist here.

I was talking to Louis Corrigan about this very specific issue after the Momentary Performance at Piedmont Park last Saturday. And we both anticipate of Atlanta becoming something of great. But we have to find ways to hold young artists in Atlanta. There have been a few energetic non-profit arts organization like Flux Projects, Possible Futures, or Idea Capital that sponsor interesting projects for artists. Swan Coach House Gallery supports local emerging artists through its prestigious Forward Arts Foundations Award (2010 winner is Lucha Rodriguez). And there are many amazing spaces for artists to explore. Cathy Fox's ArtsCriticATL and BURNAWAY have been diligently putting a list of cultural happenings in Atlanta with critical reviews. Hey... this is a lot of stuff happening in the city.

Cinque Hicks writes interesting articles on his Frame of Mind column (Creative Loafing, Atlanta). He specifically talks about this issue on this article, Artists should embrace Atlanta's open playing field.
Some quotes from the article - 

Atlanta loses a steady stream of creatives every year. Seeking better public funding, smarter collectors, more adventurous galleries, and more powerful critics, artists go where those resources seem abundant. And you know where that usually turns out to be....

... I'm not making an argument that one city is better or worse for artists than any other city. But I am arguing that Atlanta's anonymity, its very formlessness, may be what makes it possible, even beneficial, to be an artist here.

So dear young artists,

I would like to make a plea. Consider staying in Atlanta. And if you are living somewhere else and thinking about your next place to live and make art, consider Atlanta. I will open my arms wide to welcome you! With our raw, not-so polished energy and urgency to create and live creatively... we possibly can make the city of Atlanta into something we imagine it to be - for us.

Momentary Performance Week 1 - Piedmont Park Today!

So I will be performing every Saturday 11AM at the Piedmont Park for the project called Momentary Performances. Artist Lee Walton has scripted 8 performances that will happen in various locations in Atlanta (Oct. 4 - 31).

Momentary Performances stems from Lee Walton’s interest in the subtle, everyday actions of public life.  Through the simple use of vinyl text installed in public space, everyday actions are formalized, thus taking on a new life.  Through this amplification, intimate everyday occurrences become celebrated events and blur the line between real-life and theater.

  
Check out more details at http://www.fluxprojects.org/momentary/index.html.

I'll post more about the performance and if you can stop by to see me with a yellow blanket, it would be awesome!