Seung Hee Hur

Hur Seung Hee’s paintings hold the feelings we experience when something that may later seem like no big deal leaves us with a small sense of loss, or a deep ache in the heart. The artist has continued to choose time alone over time with others, spending quiet, uneventful days in her studio, careful and guarded lest someone enter her heart and stir her emotions. Then one day, her little cat came to lie beside her and fell fast asleep, unaware of the world. The sight comforted her and filled her heart with warmth. This small creature felt more reassuring than a great bear, as though it were watching over her. Birds appear in her paintings because, in moments when she feels unable to share her personal hopes and deepest wishes with anyone, they signify the presence of small, precious beings by her side. The thought that someone may leave at any time, and the heart that waits for their return, are also part of the stories she paints. The beauty of things we cannot reach makes us linger. The artist has long been drawn to another side of herself that she has yet to see, and to the backs of others. These figures may be people close to her in real life, while her interest also comes from her own shyness and reluctance to face others directly. In her paintings, however, she wishes to speak of the beauty of the lonely, empty feelings carried by a figure seen from the side or behind, more than by a face seen from the front. She seeks to express these feelings quietly, rather than lay them bare with intensity. Little things and ordinary days. Hur Seung Hee continues to paint the feelings and emotions that linger within them.