Jean Shin (born 1971) is an American artist living in

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. She is known for creating elaborate sculptures and site-specific installations using accumulated cast-off materials.

Personal life

Shin was born in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and moved to the United States when she was 6 years old, growing up in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

. Both of her parents who had been professors in Seoul took various jobs after moving to the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

area, eventually owning a supermarket and liquor store. Shin was encouraged to pursue painting seriously in high school, and in 1990 during her senior year she entered the

Presidential Scholars Program The United States Presidential Scholars Program is a program of the United States Department of Education. It is described as "one of the nation's highest honors for high school students" in the United States of America. The program was establ ...

competition in the arts and won a full scholarship to

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. She received a B.F.A. in painting in 1994 and an M.S. in Art History and Criticism in 1996. She then worked at the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

as a curatorial assistant. Since 1998, she has taught at the Pratt Institute as an adjunct professor. She also attended the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 ...

in 1999.

Work

Shin is best known for her labor-intensive, sculptural process of transforming accumulations of cast-off objects into visually alluring, conceptually rich works. For each project, she amasses vast collections of a particular object—prescription pill bottles, sports trophies, sweaters—which are often sourced through donations from individuals in a participating community. These intimate objects then become the materials for her

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

and site-specific installations. Her works navigate the boundary between

abstraction Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal (reality, real or Abstract and concrete, concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstraction" ...

and

representation Representation may refer to: Law and politics *Representation (politics), political activities undertaken by elected representatives, as well as other theories ** Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a ...

, while considering both formal issues and cultural investigations. Shin's artwork references a wide range of art historical precedents, from

minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

, with its unyielding repetition of singular forms, to

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, with its focus on traditional craft techniques, and

Arte Povera Arte Povera (; literally "poor art") was an art movement that took place between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s in major cities throughout Italy and above all in Turin. Other cities where the movement was also important are ...

, with its connection to everyday life. Her inventory of scavenged and obsolete materials includes worn shoes, lost socks, broken umbrellas, broken ceramics, discarded lottery tickets, and prescription pill bottles, all of which she accumulates in massive quantities. Shin then transmutes these finds through a meticulous process of deconstruction, alteration, and restoration. The resulting sculptures and installations consist of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of seemingly identical objects, each of which carries a multitude of potential meanings that inspire both personal and collective associations.

The focus shifts constantly in my installations between individual and group identity, the single unit and the larger whole, the intimate and the excessive. My elaborate work-process mirrors these dualities, as objects of mass production and consumerism are transformed through intense handmade labor.

Shin's work is included in New York City's Second Avenue Subway. In addition to Shin, fellow artists in the " extensive underground art museum funded and commissioned by

MTA Arts & Design MTA Arts & Design, formerly known as Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts for Transit and Arts for Transit and Urban Design, is a commissioned art program directed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the transportation systems ...

" include

Chuck Close Charles Thomas Close (July 5, 1940 – August 19, 2021) was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealism, photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits ...

Sarah Sze Sarah Sze (; born 1969) is an American artist and professor of visual arts at Columbia University. Sze's work explores the role of technology, information, and memory with objects in contemporary life utilizing everyday materials. Her work ofte ...

and

Vik Muniz Vik Muniz (; born 1961) is a Brazilian artist and photographer. His work has been met with both commercial success and critical acclaim, and has been exhibited worldwide. In 1998, he participated in the 24th International Biennale in São Paulo, ...

. Shin's installation "Elevated" mosaics located at the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station is based on early-20th-century photographs of the 2nd and 3rd Avenue elevated lines from the Transit Museum and New-York Historical Society archives.

Exhibitions

Shin's work has been widely exhibited in major national and international museums, including a 2004 solo project at

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

in New York,

The Fabric Workshop and Museum The Fabric Workshop and Museum, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a non-profit arts organization devoted to creating new work in new materials and new media in collaboration with emerging, nationally, and internationally recognized artis ...

in Philadelphia in 2006, and a solo exhibition at the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

in 2009. * 2018: "Jean Shin: Collections",

The Philadelphia Museum of Art ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, Philadelphia,PA * 2017: "MetaCloud",

Pioneer Works Pioneer Works is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit cultural arts center in the Red Hook, Brooklyn, Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City that was founded by artist Dustin Yellin in 2012. Pioneer Works includes a large exhibition spac ...

, Brooklyn, NY; "MAiZE", Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, Auburn, AL; "MAiZE",

Figge Art Museum The Figge Art Museum is located on the north bank of the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa. The Figge, as it is commonly known, has an encyclopedic collection and serves as the major art museum for the eastern Iowa and western Illinois regio ...

, Davenport, IA * 2016: "Surface Tension", Cristin Tierney Gallery, New York, NY * 2015: "Inclusions", Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas, TX; "Links", Olson Gallery, Bethel University, St. Paul, MN; "Domesticated Landscapes", Mark Moore Gallery, Culver City, CA * 2013: "Host",

Montclair Art Museum The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) is located in Montclair in Essex County, New Jersey and holds a collection of over 12,000 objects showcasing American and Native North American art. Through its public programs, art classes, and exhibitions, MAM ...

, Montclair, NJ; "Intervals", The 13th KAFA Award Recipient Exhibition,

Korean Cultural Center Korean Cultural Centers () are non–profit institutions aligned with the government of South Korea that aim to promote Korean culture and facilitate cultural exchanges. History Starting from 2009, the Korean Culture and Information Service be ...

, Los Angeles, CA * 2012: "Jean Shin and Brian Ripel: Retreat",

deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is a sculpture park and contemporary art museum on the southern shore of Flint's Pond in Lincoln, Massachusetts, 20 miles northwest of Boston. It was established in 1950, and is the largest park of its k ...

, Lincoln, MA; "Recall",

, Brooklyn, NY * 2010: "Jean Shin and Brian Ripel: Unlocking",

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) in the state of Arizona is a museum in the Old Town district of downtown Scottsdale, Arizona. The museum is dedicated to contemporary art, design, and architecture. The Museum has five galleries t ...

, Scottsdale, AZ; "Pattern Folds",

Calvin Klein Collection Calvin Klein Collection (renamed Calvin Klein 205W39NYC in 2017 under Raf Simons) is the brand name for the high-end designer womenswear and menswear lines from fashion house Calvin Klein which were presented on the catwalks of New York Fashio ...

, New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Seoul, Korea * 2009: "Common Threads",

, Washington, DC * 2008: "And we move", Location One, New York, NY * 2007: "Key Promises", Frederieke Taylor Gallery, New York, NY * 2006: "TEXTile",

, Philadelphia, PA * 2005: "Glasscape", Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris, France; "Accumulations", University Art Museum at University at Albany, Albany, NY * 2004: "Projects 81: Jean Shin",

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York, NY; "Recent Works", Frederieke Taylor Gallery, New York, NY; "Hide",

Ulrich Museum The Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art is a modern and contemporary art museum located on the campus of Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. History The museum opened on December 7, 1974 in McKnight Art Center, where it is still located toda ...

, Wichita, KS * 2003: "Penumbra",

Socrates Sculpture Park Socrates Sculpture Park is an outdoor museum and public park where artists can create and exhibit sculptures and multi-media installations. It is located one block from the Noguchi Museum at the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Boulevard in ...

, Long Island City, NY * 1999: "444",

Apexart Apexart (stylized as apexart) is a non-profit art space located in Lower Manhattan, New York. The organization, founded by Steven Rand in 1994, combines spaces for creative endeavor and curation to encourage experimentation and innovation. apexa ...

, New York, NY

Public commissions

* 2016 Elevated, MTA Arts & Design,

Lexington Avenue–63rd Street (63rd Street Lines) Lexington or The Lexington may refer to: Places England *Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington Canada *Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario United States *Lexington, Kentucky, the most populous city with this name *Lexington, Massac ...

, New York, NY; Reclaimed, City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Seattle Public Utilities, North Transfer Station, Seattle, WA * 2014 100 Wishes, Maimonides Hospital, Brooklyn, NY * 2010 Settings, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art Commission, P/IS 276, Battery Park City, NY * 2008 Celadon Remnants, MTA, Arts for Transit Commission, LIRR Broadway Station, Queens, NY; Dress Code, US General Services Administration Art in Architecture Award, George Fallon Federal Building, Baltimore, MD

Collections

Boise Art Museum The Boise Art Museum (BAM) is located at 670 Julia Davis Drive in Boise, Idaho, and is part of a series of public museums and cultural attractions in Julia Davis Park. It is the permanent home of a growing collection of contemporary realism, mod ...

, Boise, Idaho * Calvin Klein Corporate Art Collection, New York, NY * Chaney Family Collection *

Chase Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Trade name, doing business as Chase, is an American National bank (United States), national bank headquartered in New York City that constitutes the retail banking, consumer and commercial bank, commercial banking su ...

Corporate Art Collection * Citicorp Corporate Art Collection * City of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Office of Arts and Culture * Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio * Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

, Honolulu, Hawaii *

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1850. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril ...

, London * Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York *

Metropolitan Transit Authority Metropolitan Transit Authority may refer to: * Metropolitan Transit Authority (Boston), succeeded by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) * Metropolitan Transit Authority (Victoria), Melbourne, Australia * Erie Metropolitan Trans ...

, Arts for Transit, Queens, New York * Microsoft Corporate Art Collection *

, Montclair, New Jersey *

Museum of Glass The Museum of Glass (MOG) is a contemporary art museum in Tacoma, Washington, dedicated to the medium of glass. Since its founding in 2002, the Museum of Glass has been committed to creating a space for the celebration of the studio glass movem ...

, International Center of Contemporary Art, Tacoma, Washington * Neuberger Berman Collection * The Percent for Art Program of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York, New York * The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts *

Smithsonian Museum of American Art The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

, Washington, District of Columbia * Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York * Surdna Foundation, New York, New York * Sweet Blair College, Art Gallery, Virginia * Ssamzie Collection, Seoul Korea * Ulrich Museum of Art, University of Wichita, Wichita, Kansas * U.S. General Services Administration, Art in Architecture, Baltimore, Maryland *

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

, Hartford, Connecticut * The West Family Collection

Recognition

* 2018 Wave Hill Winter Workspace Residency, New York, NY * 2017 Pratt Alumni Achievement Award * 2016 Artist in Residence, Material for the Arts, Long Island City, NY * 2012 KAFA Award for the Visual Arts, Korea Arts Foundation of America * 2008 New York Foundation for the Arts, Fellowship Award in Architecture/Environmental Structures * 2007-08 Location One International Residency Program, New York, NY * 2006-07 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant * 2004-05 Dieu Donne Papermill, Studio Workshop Residency, New York, NY; Lower East Side Printshop, Special Editions Fellow, New York, NY * 2004 Creative Capital Professional Development Workshop, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation * 2003-06 Fabric Workshop and Museum, Artist Residency, Philadelphia, PA * 2003 New York Foundation for the Arts, Fellowship Award in Sculpture; Art Omi International Artists Residency, Brooklyn NY; BCAT/Rotunda Gallery Residency, Brooklyn, NY * 2001 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Art Award; Asian Cultural Council Fellowship * 1992 Vermont Studio Center, International Residency Program, Johnson, VT * 1990-04 Charles Pratt Scholar, Full Merit Scholarship and Pratt National Talent Search First Place, Brooklyn, NY * 1990 United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts (selected by the White House Commissioners); National Foundation for the Advancement for the Arts Award

References

External links

Jean Shin on the web
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shin, Jean American contemporary artists 1971 births Living people Artists from Seoul 21st-century American artists 21st-century American women artists South Korean emigrants to the United States Pratt Institute alumni Pratt Institute faculty Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alumni American women academics