Annette Hur: After Leaving, Before the End

CHART is pleased to present After Leaving, Before the End, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Brooklyn based, South Korean artist Annette Hur. Presenting works on both levels of the gallery, this marks Hur’s first solo exhibition with CHART. The opening reception will be held on Friday, February 21, from 6–8 p.m., and the exhibition will remain on view through April 5, 2025. 

The light dappled, mutable landscapes of Hur’s new paintings are an immersive metaphoric journey for the artist. In these works, she embodies the landscape, identifying with and moving through nature within the vacillating currents of an expansive ocean, the gravitational force of plunging waterfalls and the seductive pull of the distant moon.  Hur’s turbulent personal history and her experience as a female immigrant navigating two cultures underpins her practice. These paintings document her journey of self-actualization.  As the exhibition title suggests, they explore the space, “After Leaving, Before the End.”

With a vibrant and at times dissonant palette, Hur’s diverse application of marks create images that are initially recognizable but quickly dissolve into pure color, light and movement. The intimately scaled works on board, installed in the lower level of the gallery, offer a glimpse into the mechanics of this intuitive transition, serving as spontaneous journals of color and moments from Hur’s studio process.

“This collision between reality, dreams, and desires resonates through layers of violent hues of colors and boundless yet determined brushstrokes. Water-in nature- as a universally symbolic capricious element, operates as a metaphor for perpetual journeys and reflecting the passing of time.” 

–Annette Hur

About the Artist

Annette Hur was born in South Korea and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Hesse Flatow; Ross + Kramer; Assembly Room; The Wallach Art Gallery; Gavin Brown’s Enterprise; RegularNormal; Urban Zen; Times Square Space; Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey; West Chester University, Pennsylvania; Heaven Gallery, Chicago; Chicago Artists Coalition; Boundary, Chicago.

Her work has been featured in Friend of the Artist (Volume 11), Create! Magazine (Issue 13), and New American Paintings (Issues 134 and 135), as well as in online publications including Bad at Sports, Third Coast Review, Newcity Art, ADF Magazine, Naeil News, The Preview, and Sisa Today.

Hur was a nominee for the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant (2019) and participated in the BOLT Residency at the Chicago Artists Coalition (2016–2017).

She holds a BA from Ewha Womans University (2008), a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2015), and an MFA from Columbia University (2019).