Installation view
of “Hanna Hur: 8” ©DOOSAN GalleryDOOSAN Gallery is holding the first solo
exhibition in Korea by Korean-Canadian artist Hanna Hur (b. 1985), based in LA,
titled “Hanna Hur: 8”, through December 21.
DOOSAN Art Center has long supported young
Korean artists and this show expands the exhibition program by featuring, for
the first time, a diasporic Korean artist. The exhibition is co-curated by
Hyejung Jang, DOOSAN Art Center Curator and Christopher Y. Lew, founder of C/O:
Curatorial Office.
Installation view of “Hanna Hur: 8” ©DOOSAN GalleryHanna Hur is an artist who explores
transcendent and spiritual realms beyond concrete reality by constructing
intricate compositions that challenge our visual perception systems through
painting and installation. In this exhibition, she presents a series of
large-scale paintings displayed back-to-back on the inner and outer surfaces of
four walls erected like pillars in the gallery. These works collectively
function as a single installation piece.
The walls and paintings are specifically
arranged in what she refers to as a “situation” that foregrounds the act of
seeing and also the visitor’s bodily movement through the installation.
Installation view of “Hanna Hur: 8” ©DOOSAN GalleryMeanwhile,
in the Window Gallery, a new work titled Chord (2024) by
fellow artist Na Mira, personally invited by Hanna Hur, is on display. For this
exhibition, Na Mira created a new installation piece inspired by the visual
effects and color motifs that serve as key elements in Hanna Hur’s work.
Mira presents a new dimension that shakes
the edges of the viewer’s perception through everyday materials. In particular,
the frequent appearance of red in her work is used as a passage to imagine a
space beyond perception, as it is the color that disappears first from view
when light fades.
This installation piece creates two
contrasting spaces using mirrors and red-colored film, forming a
phenomenological space where the process of emptying and filling is repeated.
"Hanna Hur: 8" constantly
disrupts and opens the boundaries of perception through the unique
characteristics of Hanna Hur’s painting and the delicately constructed
environment that corresponds to it, along with an expanded collaborative
approach. The viewer is placed at the threshold of a transcendent visual and
physical experience beyond reality.
Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.
