Myung Urso: Trans – Form

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Myung Urso: Trans-Form

April 5 – May 7, 2017

Opening Reception: Friday, April 7, 6-8pm 

Thread, ink, wood, paper. Humble raw materials are venerated for their textural, structural, and visual qualities. Stitched, sculpted, stretched to join seemingly incongruous elements into inseparable jewelry forms. Myung Urso has an uncanny ability not only to interpret everyday materials in entirely fresh ways, but to elevate them in her work to stature typically reserved for precious stones and metals. Even when Urso uses sterling silver, freshwater pearls, or other more traditional jewelry matter, she gives cotton, wood, and, most recently, paper pulp, centerstage. And, in their leading roles, under Urso’s direction, these objects are radiant and mesmerizing. At the heart of Urso’s work are the exploration and transformation of commonplace materials into art objects that are ambiguous, enigmatic, and beguiling.

Myung Urso is a sculptor working in jewelry, a textile artist by training, and a keen observer of the natural world’s permutations. Seasons of the year, growth cycles, the elements of water, fire, and earth, are recurrent themes in her bodies of work. Urso revels in soft, expressive organic shapes yet her approach is quite exacting and laconic. Consequently, her necklaces, brooches, and earrings can exhibit both, a minimalist architectural austerity, and an exuberance of form and surface.

Myung Urso has used jewelry as a medium of artistic expression for the past ten years. A decade is also how long she has lived in the United States. Her work reflects the abundant cultural and artistic influences of her former life in South Korea, as well as the challenges and rewards of navigating the American cultural landscape.

For years, Hanji paper was a material Urso utilized frequently in her work. More recently, she has turned to another paper product — recycled paper egg cartons and recycled paper fruit/vegetable baskets. First spotted by Urso in farmer’s market stalls in her current hometown of Rochester, NY, these humble objects, weathered by sunlight, use, and reuse, have come to symbolize, for her, the cycle of consumption and the grower-consumer relationship, Urso says. The recycled paper pulp containers carry the product of the farmers’ labor as well as nourishment for those who consume the fruit. In Urso’s hands, pieces of these containers are transformed again, their surfaces treated with marble dust or other substances, set in sterling silver, and recreated as jewelry pieces, to be worn and translated yet again.

Whether using calligraphy in novel ways, as Urso did in her early collections, or stitching through found wood debris, as she did later, or treating common paper pulp as precious commodity, Urso’s approach makes her metamorphic jewelry exhilarating.

– Elena Rosenberg, Independent Curator 

Site, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Acrylic paint, Sterling silver, 2017

Site, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Acrylic Paint, Sterling Silver, 2017

Window, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Acrylic Paint, Sterling silver, 2016

Window, Brooch, Recycled Paper Egg Carton, Sand, Acrylic Paint, Sterling Silver, 2016

Oneness, Necklace, Wood, Cotton thread, Acrylic paint, 2015

Oneness, Necklace, Wood, Cotton Thread, Acrylic Paint, 2015

Poem, Neckpiece, Cotton, Asian ink, Thread, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2007

Poem, Neckpiece, Cotton, Asian Ink, Thread, Sterling Silver, Lacquer, 2007

Oak Tree, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Wood Dust, Acrylic Paint, Sterling silver, 2017

Oak Tree, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Wood Dust, Acrylic Paint, Sterling Silver, 2017

Aquarius, Brooch, Recycled Paper Egg Carton, Sand, Marble Dust, Asian Ink, Sterling silver, 2017

Aquarius, Brooch, Recycled Paper Egg Carton, Sand, Marble Dust, Asian Ink, Sterling Silver, 2017

Torso, Brooch, Sterling silver, Fabric, Thread, Asian ink, 2009

Torso, Brooch, Sterling Silver, Fabric, Thread, Asian Ink, Loofah, 2009

Aquarius, Necklace, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Marble Dust, Acrylic Paint, Sterling silver, 2017

Aquarius, Necklace, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Acrylic Paint, Pigment, Sterling Silver, 2017

Sign of Life, Necklace, Silk, Thread, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2012

Sign of Life, Necklace, Silk, Thread, Sterling Silver, Lacquer, 2012

Brood, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Egg Carton, Sand, Pigment, Sterling silver, 2017

Brood, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Egg Carton, Sand, Pigment, Acrylic Paint, Sterling Silver, 2017

Golden Silk, Neckpiece, Cotton, Thread, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2010

Golden Crest, Neckpiece, Cotton, Silk, Thread, Sterling Silver, Lacquer, 2010

Ancient, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Egg Carton, Marble Dust, Hair, Sterling silver, 2017

Ancient, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Egg Carton, Marble Dust, Hair, Sterling Silver, 2017

Modesty, Neckpiece, Silk, Thread, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2008

Modesty, Neckpiece, Silk, Thread, Sterling Silver, Lacquer, 2008

Infinity, Neckpiece, Antique Korean Book, Hanji, 23K Gold Leaf, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2011

Infinity, Neckpiece, Antique Korean Book, Hanji, 23K Gold Leaf, Sterling Silver, Lacquer, 2011

Presence, Brooch, Recycled Paper Egg Carton, Sand, Marble Dust, Asian Ink, Sterling silver, 2017

Presence, Brooch, Recycled Paper Egg Carton, Sand, Marble Dust, Asian Ink, Sterling Silver, 2017

Site, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Acrylic Paint, Sterling silver, 2016

Site, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Acrylic Paint, Sterling Silver, 2016

Scene, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Asian Ink, Sterling silver, 2017

Scene, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Asian ink, Sterling Silver, 2017

Flora, 2016,

Flora, Brooch, Sterling Silver, Sand, Acrylic Paint, 2016

Shrine, Necklace, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Pigment, Acrylic Paint, Silk Cord, 2017

Shrine, Necklace, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Pigment, Acrylic Paint, Silk Cord, 2017

Blue Combination, Necklace, Silk, Silicone bands, Hanji, Asian ink, Thread, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2014

Blue Combination, Necklace, Silk, Silicone Bands, Hanji, Asian Ink, Thread, Sterling Silver, Lacquer, 2014

Site, Brooch, Recycled Paper Egg Carton, Sand, Marble Dust, Asian ink, Hair, Sterling silver, 2017

Site, Brooch, Recycled Paper Egg Carton, Sand, Marble Dust, Asian Ink, Hair, Sterling Silver, 2017

Site, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Pigment, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2016

Site, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Pigment, Sterling Silver, Lacquer, 2016

In the Cloud, Brooch, Silk Organza, Thread, Found object, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2013

In the Cloud, Brooch, Silk Organza, Thread, Found Object, Sterling Silver, Lacquer, 2013

Aquarius, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Asian Ink, Acrylic Paint, Sterling silver, 2017

Aquarius, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Asian Ink, Acrylic Paint, Sterling Silver, 2017

Rampart, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Acrylic Paint, Asian ink, Sterling silver, 2017

Rampart, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Acrylic Paint, Asian Ink, Sterling Silver, 2017