Gyun Hur wins $50,000 Hudgens Prize

• Courtesy the Hudgens Center
• Gyun Hur

It’s just been announced that Atlanta-based artist Gyun Hur has been awarded the Hudgens Prize and the distinguished honor of being $50,000 richer. As a young emerging artist, Hur was a bit of an underdog in some ways, considering her well-known competition: Ruth Dusseault, Hope Hilton, Scott Ingram and Jiha Moon.

Besides the $50K Hur is offered a solo show at the Hudgens Center in 2011.

From the press release:
Hur painstakingly created a complex installation of bright stripes from both deconstructed silk flower elements and paint, with an accompanying photograph. She states, “narratives of memory, loss, and place are vital elements in my construction of a visual and psychological space in which improvised rituals and materials converge. Silk flowers are carefully disassembled and hand-shredded by Hur and a community of people around her. The pattern produced by a labor-intensive installation references the artist’s mother’s wedding blanket, beckoning memories of the past and inherent ephemeral comfort. Re-contextualizing a cultural reference to the colors of seck-dong that are believed to drive out bad luck, Hur creates an aesthetic space that imposes on issues of culture, beliefs, and aesthetics.”

• Courtesy the Hudgens Center
• Installation view of Gyun Hur’s award-winning work

The prize’s funding comes from an anonymous donor and the jurors included Atlanta’s Sylvie Fortin (Editor in Chief of ART PAPERS Magazine); David Kiehl (Curator of Prints at The Whitney Museum of American Art); and Eungie Joo (Director and Curator of Exhibitions and Public Programs at The New Museum).

An exhibit of the finalists’ work is now on view at the Hudgens Center through Feb. 19.

Congrats Gyun!