A painting, a seagull, waves, a cliff, sky, impending, filled with mist, undercurrent and shadow, something found, by accident, or with some hidden purpose, a series of evasions, a series of interventions, or simply a series. Coincidences are meaningful, it is true, seemingly random similarities between parallel events open a door in what is known. Through this door might it be possible to glimpse that which we will never know? (And so I made a quiet resolution: to follow the coincidences that life presented and see where they could lead.) A painting displays nature as something both kitsch and sublime. The accident of finding it both kitsch and sublime as well. A signal one might follow. Sirens once led sailors straight into the rocks. Every coincidence is also a siren. But some rocks you can climb.
- Jacob Wren
In 2010, Hanna Hur chanced upon a framed reproduction of a stormy seascape painting. The pull it had over her was and is mysterious - experienced on a spiritual and psychic level, the picture seemed a looming omen for some future misfortune. A Heavy Accent, An Interpretive Dance hinges on this single found object. Through an approach based on Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological writings on perception, Hur interprets this picture by repetitiously making responsive drawings, paintings, and sculptures. The resulting works attempt to pronounce immaterial sensory occurrences of the mind; they reflect on and deconstruct courses of subjectivity and perceptual experience. A Heavy Accent, An Interpretive Dance is Hur’s first solo exhibition at O’Born Contemporary.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
HANNA HUR received a BFA from Concordia University in 2008. She works in various mediums including drawing, painting and sculpture. Her work takes a phenomenological approach to ideas of perception and the fabric of experienced reality. These ideas stem from a deep interest in subjectivity and its primordial place in shaping consciousness. She has exhibited at a number of Toronto galleries including XPACE, Mercer Union, Art Metropole, LE Gallery, and 107 Shaw. In 2011 she lived and worked in Berlin under an OAC sponsored mentorship with acclaimed artist Candice Breitz. During her time there, she presented a solo exhibition at Okazi Gallery. Last winter, she independently curated the highly attended group exhibition Again, With Feeling! featuring work by seven young, local artists. Hur exhibited most recently at Galérie B-312 in Montreal and has an upcoming project at YYZ Artist Outlet in Toronto. Hur lives and works in Toronto.