Archive
External records about the artist — articles, reviews, interviews, videos.
76 items
- Image Feature 2025-11-10 · Artist's Blog
Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001) — From the Peace House to the National Assembly
A photographic record of Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001) being relocated from the Peace House at the 2018 inter-Korean summit venue through the National Assembly to its current meeting room.
#Mt. Geumgang #Sangpaldam #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #국회
- Video Interview 2025-07-20 · GongshallTV
From Arirang to Mt. Geumgang — World Heritage as Contemporary Art: The Story of Shin Jang-sik (Part 2) — Artistalk EP.194
An interview tracing how the artist's Korean motifs — from Arirang to Mt. Geumgang — are translated into contemporary painting. (Part 2)
#Interview #Arirang #Mt. Geumgang #Artistalk
- Video Interview 2025-07-13 · GongshallTV
Inside the Studio of Shin Jang-sik, Painter of Mt. Geumgang (Part 1) — Artistalk EP.194
A studio-visit interview where the artist discusses his process and gaze on Mt. Geumgang. (Part 1)
#Interview #Studio #Mt. Geumgang #Artistalk
- Video Feature 2024-10-08 · Myungwon Museum
'Citizen of Kookmin: Shin Jang-sik' — Curated Special Exhibition Introduction Video (2024)
An introductory video for the curated special exhibition 'Citizen of Kookmin: Shin Jang-sik', held at Myungwon Museum of Kookmin University in October 2024. Spanning 11 works including pieces from the museum's collection, the video traces the artist's life and oeuvre chronologically, weaving together images of his works and personal photographs.
#명원박물관 #기획특별전 #국민대학교 #작가영상 #2024
- Image Feature 2024-06-03 · Artist's Blog
Book: Shin Jang-sik, Painting Mt. Geumgang — by Choi Tae-man (2024)
A monograph documenting Shin Jang-sik's artistic world centered on Mt. Geumgang, which he has painted since 1993. Written by Choi Tae-man, art critic and the artist's college contemporary; published by AM Art in June 2024.
#도서 #평전 #작가론 #최태만 #Mt. Geumgang
- Image In Progress 2022-11-14 · Shin Jang-sik
Light and Hope of Mt. Seorak Gongnyong Ridge Cheonhwadae — In Progress (2022)
A step-by-step record of the 391×162cm canvas — hanji collage and acrylic layers building up, photographed by the artist himself.
#제작과정 #Baekdudaegan #Mt. Seorak #Cheonhwadae
- Image Feature 2021-12-31 · Artist's Blog
2022 Ministry of Unification Calendar — Featuring Works by Shin Jang-sik
The 2022 Ministry of Unification calendar features the artist's works on monthly pages, with a cover and back cover.
#달력 #통일부 #출판물
- Image Feature 2020-07-01 · Artist's Blog
Inside the 〈Mt. Geumgang — Hope〉 Exhibition at Dongduk Art Gallery (2020)
Thirteen photographs taken by the artist of the 〈Mt. Geumgang — Hope〉 solo exhibition (July 1 – 6, 2020) at Dongduk Art Gallery, capturing the Mt. Geumgang series installed across the gallery's entire floors.
#Mt. Geumgang #Hope #동덕아트갤러리 #전시풍경 #개인전
- Text News 2018-09-07 · Artist's Blog
Press Coverage of Shin Jang-sik's Solo Exhibition — "Diamond Mountains: Longing for the 12 Spectacles" (2018)
Two interviews on the occasion of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition Longing for the 12 Spectacles of Mt. Geumgang (September 2018, Kumsan Gallery). The Hankyoreh feature in its “Tea Time” column (Lee Gil-woo, 2018-09-07) covers 25 years of practice, the technique behind Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001) displayed at the April 27 inter-Korean summit, the 1988 Seoul Olympics cheongsachorong lantern performance, and the artist's first Mt. Geumgang visit in 1998. The Edaily interview (Oh Hyun-ju, 2018-09-17) adds the Peace House loan history of Sangpaldam (an initial two-week NIS contract extended free of charge through year-end) and discusses the palette and technique of new works such as Light of Manmulsang, Mt. Geumgang (2018, 291×112 cm).
#Interview #Mt. Geumgang #금강 12경 #금산갤러리 #한겨레 #짬 #이길우 #이데일리 #오현주 #오방색 #비로봉 #Peace House
- Text Review 2018-08-29 · 최태만
〈"Painting the 12 Spectacles of Mount Kumgang Here and Now"〉 — Critique by Choi Tae-man (2018)
Critique by art critic Choi Tae-man, written for the exhibition Shin Jangsik: Diamond Mountains (September 2018, Kumsan Gallery). Analyzes the artist's intent in dividing the Diamond Mountains into twelve monthly scenes, locates the work within the East Asian tradition of celebrated-scenery painting (Wuyi-jiuquge, Xiaoxiang Bajing-tu), and reads the bluish auspicious light (서기/瑞氣) flowing through the series as a marker of temporal layering. Includes both Korean and English texts.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #그리운 금강산 #금강 12경 #최태만 #금산갤러리 #사계도 #오방색 #서기
- Video News 2018-04-30 · Fox 5 New York
Korean Painter Shin Jang-sik on U.S. Television (Fox 5 New York) — The Summit Painting and the Met's Diamond Mountains Exhibition
Fox 5 New York TV coverage connecting Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam—displayed at the April 27 inter-Korean summit—with the contemporaneous "Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art" special exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The segment features a Skype interview with artist Shin Jang-sik and remarks from Soyoung Lee, curator for Korean art at the Met.
#해외보도 #메트로폴리탄 #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #Sangpaldam #Mt. Geumgang #Fox5NY #Soyoung Lee #큐레이터
- Text Review 2018-04-30 · 이소영
The Diamond Mountains as Backdrop to the Historic Korean Summit — Curator's Essay by Soyoung Lee (The Met Perspectives) (2018)
On the occasion of the April 27, 2018 inter-Korean summit—where Shin Jang-sik's Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam appeared as the backdrop—Soyoung Lee, curator of Korean art at The Met, introduces the museum's exhibition Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art (Feb 7 – May 20, 2018) and Shin's practice. The essay analyzes two works featured in the show—The Light at Cheonhwadae Peaks (2014, from the series Twelve Scenes of Mount Geumgang) and Raining on Manmulsang Rocks (2014)—contrasting the brilliant acrylic luminosity with the muted ink-painting effect, and traces the true-view landscape (jingyeong sansuhwa) tradition back to the 18th-century master Jeong Seon, who anchors the exhibition. Published on The Met Perspectives, April 30, 2018.
#비평 #큐레이터 #메트로폴리탄 #Mt. Geumgang #Cheonhwadae #Manmulsang #12경 #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #Sangpaldam #겸재정선 #이소영 #Soyoung Lee #박물관공식
- Video News 2018-04-28 · KBS News
The 'Mt. Geumgang of Hope' That Adorned the Summit Room — The Artist's Behind-the-Scenes Story
KBS News video aired the day after the April 27, 2018 inter-Korean summit. Features Shin Jang-sik's Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001), the monumental painting hung in the meeting room of the Peace House at Panmunjom, along with an interview with the artist on the painting's meaning and behind-the-scenes story.
#영상 #KBS #Mt. Geumgang #Sangpaldam #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #Interview
- Text News 2018-04-26 · Artist's Blog
Press Coverage: Shin Jang-sik's "Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam" at the April 27 Inter-Korean Summit Venue (2018)
Five-outlet coverage surrounding the April 27, 2018 inter-Korean summit and the painting Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001, 681×181 cm) installed in the second-floor meeting room of the Peace House at Panmunjom. On April 26 (eve of the summit), three phone interviews — Yonhap News (Jeong A-ran), JoongAng Ilbo (Lee Eun-ju), and Kyunghyang Shinmun — cover the painting's technique (fusing ink-painting lines, folk-painting colors, and contemporary landscape sensibility around the Cheonhwadae motif), 25 years of practice (the 1998 first North Korea visit that shifted his work from conceptual to realist landscape), the Mt. Geumgang lineage in Korean art history (Jeong Seon's Geumgang-jeondo, Byeon Gwan-sik's Samseonam), and the other artworks installed throughout the Peace House (Min Jeong-gi's Bukhansan, Kim Jun-gwon's San-un, Park Dae-seong's Ilchul-bong). On April 27 (summit day), MoneyToday (Shin Hyeon-woo) reports the Blue House quote that the painting replaced a Mt. Halla piece originally hung in that spot. On April 28 (day after), OhmyNews (Lee Ju-yeon) publishes a full Q&A spot-interview: the painting had been stored in the artist's studio for 17 years since 2001, and the artist's analogy that "if Brandenburg Gate symbolizes German unification, Mt. Geumgang would symbolize Korean unification."
#Interview #Mt. Geumgang #Sangpaldam #Cheonhwadae #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #Baekdudaegan #연합뉴스 #정아란 #중앙일보 #이은주 #경향신문 #머니투데이 #신현우 #오마이뉴스 #이주연
- Image Feature 2018-02-22 · Artist's Blog
Inside the Metropolitan Museum's "Diamond Mountains" Exhibition (2018)
Thirty-three photographs taken by the artist at the Diamond Mountains - Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art exhibition (Feb 7 - May 20, 2018) at The Met's Arts of Korea Gallery. The images capture the installation including the artist's own The Light on the Cheonhwadae and Raining on Manmulsang, alongside Jeong Seon's true-view landscape albums, modern masters such as Byun Kwan-sik and Lee Ungno, and Elizabeth Keith's Mt. Geumgang.
#메트로폴리탄 #Mt. Geumgang #평창올림픽 #전시풍경 #한국실 #겸재정선 #Met #박물관
- Mixed News 2018-02-07 · Artist's Blog
Korean Press Coverage: Met Museum 'Diamond Mountains' Special Exhibition (2018)
Three-outlet print coverage of the Met Museum's 'Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art' special exhibition, marking the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and the Korean Gallery's 20th anniversary. Artist Shin Jang-sik featured as a contributing contemporary artist.
#메트로폴리탄 #Mt. Geumgang #평창올림픽 #전시보도
- Mixed Feature 2018-02-07 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Page — "Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art" (2018)
The Met's official exhibition page for "Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art" (February 7 – May 20, 2018), marking the 20th anniversary of The Met's Arts of Korea Gallery and coinciding with South Korea's hosting of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Nearly thirty works depicting Mt. Geumgang from the eighteenth century to the present, including a designated National Treasure album by Jeong Seon (1676–1759) on loan from the National Museum of Korea — most never before displayed in the U.S. Shin Jang-sik featured as a contemporary contributor with Winter Mt. Geumgang and Light of Manmulsang. Two official Met videos embedded — the exhibition introduction and the Sunday at The Met lecture on "Landscapes: Real and Imagined." Organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the National Museum of Korea (NMK). The New York Times called it "a melancholy beauty of a show ... flabbergasting loans."
#메트로폴리탄 #Mt. Geumgang #평창올림픽 #전시정보 #박물관공식 #한국실 #겸재정선 #Met
- Text News 2017-09-15 · Hyunbul News
Hyunbul News Coverage — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition "Asking the Way on the Road"
Hyunbul News (September 15, 2017) coverage of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition "Asking the Way on the Road" (September 20–26, 2017, Gallery DOS, Seoul). The exhibition weaves the artist's recurring motifs—Arirang, Mt. Geumgang, Buddhist imagery, journeys into the world, COSMOS, candlelight, and Arirang once again—under the unifying theme of "the Road." Featured works mentioned include Arirang, Light of Okryudong, Samadhi (2014), The Road to Jangche No. 3, and Candles Sparkle Like Stars in the Night Sky (2016). The artist also recalls that his Buddhist subject matter began in 2007 after encountering the Myogilsang Buddha statue in inner Mt. Geumgang.
#신문보도 #갤러리도스 #개인전 #Path #Arirang #Mt. Geumgang #불상 #Candle #현대불교
- Text Review 2015-03-03 · 신동인
Beyond Longing, Hand In Hand (2015)
A critical essay tracing Shin Jang-sik's 22-year body of Mt. Geumgang work through the lens of reunification and peace, starting from the 1988 Seoul Olympics anthem 'Hand In Hand'. It charts his shift from conceptual landscape (1993–98) to true-view landscape (post-1998) and positions his 2015 New York exhibition as the threshold of a new question — what would a 'unified-Korean value' look like.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #평화 #통일 #그리운금강12경
- Text News 2014-06-25 · Beopbo News
Beopbo News Coverage — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition "To That Shore"
Beopbo News (June 25, 2014, issue 1250) coverage of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition "To That Shore" (June 25–29, 2014, Noam Gallery, Insadong, Seoul). The exhibition is themed on the artist's "interpretation and practice of pāramitā" — the artist explains that "To That Shore" derives from "crossing over to the shore of enlightenment," and offers his own readings of the Arirang Pass, Mt. Geumgang, and Samadhi. Art critic Choi Tae-man analyzes the artist's Buddhist imagery — "Perhaps it is not the Buddha statue itself, but a means to understand the deep contemplative essence dwelling within it."
#신문보도 #노암갤러리 #개인전 #저 언덕으로 #바라밀 #깨달음 #Samadhi #최태만 #불상 #법보신문
- Text Review 2014-06-18 · 신장식; 최태만
〈To the Other Shore〉 — Artist Note and Choi Tae-man Review (2014)
A combined artist note and critical review by art critic Choi Tae-man for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈To the Other Shore〉 at Noam Gallery in June 2014. The artist explains that 'To the Other Shore' derives from the Buddhist phrase 'crossing over to the other shore of awakening' (pāramitā 波羅蜜), and that the other shore can be the 'Arirang Pass,' 'Mt. Geumgang,' or 'samādhi — the completion of practice.' It is, in his framing, the artist's own 'Arirang of hope' that moves from the suffering of this shore to the ideal of the far shore. Choi then traces the artist's self-identification as a 'pilgrim on the road,' arguing that Shin's arc from Arirang through Mt. Geumgang to Buddhist iconography ultimately follows the same trajectory — a search for the 'Arirang of hope.'
#저 언덕으로 #길 위의 수행자 #Samadhi
- Video Interview 2013-06-25 · Artist's Blog
Kookmin University 'The Professor's Study' Episode 32 — Interview with Prof. Shin Jang-sik (2013)
Episode 32 of Kookmin University's in-house interview series for students, 'The Professor's Study,' featuring Prof. Shin Jang-sik of the College of Fine Arts. The professor reflects on what a 'study' means to him as an artist and shares motivational advice for students. Visible in the studio background are the work-in-progress of Mt. Geumgang Pine Tree and a painting from the Samadhi series.
#국민대학교 #교수님의서재 #작가인터뷰 #예술대학 #미술학부 #서재 #교육 #작가영상 #2013
- Text News 2012-11-16 · Hyunbul News
Buddhist Enlightenment at Its Peak in 'Samadhi' Paintings
Coverage of Kookmin University professor Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Samadhi〉 (Nov 2012 — Nov 27, Space Sun+, Seoul). Eleven works depicting the Buddha in samadhi, drawn from the artist's pilgrimage research across India, Pakistan, Tibet's Gandharan ruins, Gyeongju, and Mt. Geumgang. The article traces how the artist's encounter with Myogilsangam relief at Mt. Geumgang led him into Buddhist imagery, and how Joseon star charts, Gyeongju Namsan pines, Dunhuang flying figures, and Yongjusa temple bells appear as backgrounds — positioning the artist as a 'pilgrim on the path' in his fifties.
#신문기사 #불교미술 #Samadhi #개인전 #간다라
- Text Artist's Note 2012-11-15 · 신장식
The Mind, My Mind, Our Mind — Buddha-nature Spreading Through the Universe (2012)
A short artist's note written alongside the 〈Samadhi〉 series — reflections on mind, dependent origination, and samadhi, in poetic form.
#작가노트 #시 #Samadhi #Buddhism
- Text Review 2012-11-15 · 최태만
〈Pilgrim on the Road, or One Who Searches for the Path〉 — Choi Tae-man review (2012)
A critical essay by art critic Choi Tae-man written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Samādhi〉 at Space Sun+ in November 2012. The essay reads the artist's Buddha-image paintings through the concept of "samādhi" and the image of a "pilgrim on the road." After 〈Inner Geumgang Myogilsang〉 (2007), the artist's Buddha-image motif evolved through his 2011 Silk Road pilgrimage (Xi'an–Pamir–Gandhara), moving from icons of worship governed by the 32 major and 80 minor marks toward an externalization of the artist's own "reverent awe." Choi traces references across Gupta-style Sarnath, Gandhara and Mathura styles, the Mireuk Triad at Samhwaryeong in Gyeongju, the Maijishan grottoes, and others; he analyzes how the artist applies paper pulp to render the granite texture of the Buddha figures while flatly combining apsaras and candle motifs, producing a picture plane where "representation and expression, three-dimensional and flat, figurative and abstract" coexist. The essay closes by likening the artist's path to the three Buddhist practices of vipassanā, sati, and samādhi, ultimately framing his pursuit as the "Arirang of hope."
#Samadhi #불상 #길 위의 수행자
- Text Artist's Note 2011-07-13 · Shin Jang-sik
Artist Note — 'In My Life, the 50s Are Pilgrims on the Road' (2011)
A short artist note posted by Shin Jang-sik on his own blog — under the self-identifying declaration "In my life, the 50s are pilgrims on the road," the note unfolds four short reflections on the identity of the artist's path and the pilgrim's path, and the artist's wish to sing an 'Arirang of Hope.' Captions for two key works — Arirang — Joyful Day and Mt. Geumgang Manmulsang — accompany the text.
#작가노트 #길위의수행자 #50대 #Arirang #희망의아리랑 #금강산만물상 #빛 #수행 #예술가의길
- Mixed Lecture 2011-05-25 · 신장식
Okinawa International University Symposium — 'Mt. Geumgang Paintings' (Shin Jang-sik) (2011)
Shin Jang-sik's symposium presentation at Okinawa International University titled 'Mt. Geumgang Paintings.' The main text comprises six sections — (1) Tradition of Mt. Geumgang painting, (2) Division and Mt. Geumgang, (3) Re-encountering Mt. Geumgang, (4) Conceptual Mt. Geumgang painting, (5) Realist Mt. Geumgang painting, (6) Prospects of Mt. Geumgang painting — followed by a sequence of the artist's Mt. Geumgang works (1993-2007) in scholarly order. Several works carry the artist's own commentary or quoted critical text by art critic Kang Tae-seong.
#학술발표 #오키나와국제대학 #Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #관념산수 #실경산수 #작가발표문 #강태성 #2011
- Text Review 2010-10-21 · 김진아
〈Shin Jang-sik's 'Mt. Geumgang' and Cézanne's 'La montagne Sainte-Victoire'〉 — Kim Jin-a review (2010)
A critical essay by aesthetician Kim Jin-a (Seoul National University) written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter〉 at Gallery INDECO in October 2010. While noting the apparent similarity — both artists having spent years painting a single mountain — Kim argues that Shin's 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 stands at the opposite pole from Cézanne's 〈Sainte-Victoire〉. Cézanne distorted the actual shape of the mountain to render it as it appeared to his individual sensation; Shin's 〈Mt. Geumgang〉, by contrast, is painted as the mountain anyone can see and recognize — a mountain of "us" rather than of an individual's perception.
#Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #사계
- Image Feature 2008-10-02 · Artist's Blog
Official Posters of the 13th Busan International Film Festival — 〈Arirang-Hope I〉 (2008)
Official poster of the 13th Busan International Film Festival and Asian Film Market poster, designed by BIFF art director Choi Sun-dae using Shin Jang-sik's 〈Arirang-Hope〉 (1991) as the original artwork.
#부산국제영화제 #공식 포스터 #Arirang #Hope #아시안필름마켓
- Text Interview 2008-09 · Artist's Blog
Interview with Shin Jang-sik for the 13th Busan International Film Festival (2008)
An interview with Shin Jang-sik, whose 〈Arirang-Hope〉 was selected as the original artwork for the 13th BIFF official poster. Six topics include the meaning of the painting, his 1988 Seoul Olympics art experience, his collaboration on Kang Woo-suk's film 〈Hanbando〉, and his future creative direction.
#Interview #부산국제영화제 #Arirang #Hope #한반도 #강우석
- Text News 2007-11-02 · Yonhap News
An Art Critic and a Painter's Tibet Travels — Book: Five Colors of Lungta and White Khata
News coverage of the Tibetan art guidebook 〈Five Colors of Lungta and White Khata〉 (Dahal Media) co-authored by critic Choi Tae-man and painter Shin Jang-sik, along with the accompanying solo exhibition at Moran Gallery, Insadong. Covers the book's content, the travel context, and the exhibition schedule.
#보도 #연합뉴스 #티베트 #다섯 빛깔 룽다 #다할미디어 #모란갤러리
- Text Review 2007-10-31 · 최태만
'From Lhasa to Kathmandu' — Tibet's Nature and Culture in Clear, Translucent Color (2007)
An accompanying critique by critic Choi Tae-man, who traveled with Shin Jang-sik through Tibet in 2005. Covers the Friendship Highway route from Lhasa to Kathmandu, the meaning of lungta and mani stones in Tibetan life, and the artist's clear translucent colors.
#비평 #티베트 #라싸 #카트만두 #룽다 #마니석 #우정공로 #최태만
- Image Feature 2006-07-17 · Artist's Blog
Film 〈Hanbando〉 Cheong Wa Dae Set — Installation of Shin Jang-sik's Works (2006)
Behind-the-scenes photographs of the Cheong Wa Dae presidential office set in Kang Woo-suk's film 〈Hanbando〉 (2006), with Shin Jang-sik's 〈Mt. Geumgang Manmulsang〉 and 〈Trees of Manmulsang〉 installed as backdrop. Visual evidence of works the artist later mentioned in the 2008 Busan International Film Festival interview.
#한반도 #강우석 #청와대 #영화 #세트 #Mt. Geumgang #Manmulsang
- Text Artist's Note 2006 · 신장식
Artist Note by Shin Jang-sik — "Between the Northeast Project and Yasukuni" (2006)
An artist note by the painter Shin Jang-sik. Reflecting on Korea's situation between China's Northeast Project (Dongbuk-gongjeong) and Japan's Yasukuni, with parallel attention to its Tibet Project, the essay places contemporary interest in Mt. Baekdu and Goguryeo within the larger question of national identity. Inseparable from the country's division, Shin argues for an active engagement with our identity and history, threading the reflection through his own painting 〈Mt. Baekdu〉 (2006-015).
#작가노트 #백두산 #동북공정 #야스쿠니 #정체성 #Korean Division #통일 #2006
- Text Review 2005-10-26 · 최태만
'Light of Mt. Geumgang' — Review by Choi Tae-man (2005)
A critical essay by art critic Choi Tae-man for Shin Jang-sik's 2005 solo exhibition 〈Light of Mt. Geumgang〉 at Moran Gallery. Discusses the advance from his 2004 〈Ten Years of Longing〉 toward grand landscape (daegyeong-sansu), the spiritual rather than physical dimension of light, Mt. Geumgang's political-historical weight as a divided peninsula's witness, and the lineage to Gyeomjae Jeong Seon's true-view landscape tradition.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #빛 #Jingyeongsansu #최태만 #모란갤러리 #겸재 정선 #Korean Division
- Text Review 2005-07-01 · 유시민
"The Joy of Having a Painter Friend, Shin Jang-sik, the Aesthetics of His Communication" — Yoo Si-min Critique (2005)
A critical essay by political commentator Yoo Si-min on Shin Jang-sik. Contrasting the common stereotype of painters as 'unfathomable eccentrics' with Shin's "exceptionally common-sense" persona, Yoo reads the artist's work through the lens of 'aesthetic communication' (소통의 미학). He recalls Shin's 1970s entrepreneurial New-Year-card business at Sim-In High School in Daegu, the legendary case of submitting an oil painting to the Gyeongbuk provincial competition under his older brother's name, and the 1977 reading-room conversation with friends that convinced his parents to let him enter art school. The piece argues that Shin's recurring motifs since 1988 — flags, cheongsachorong lanterns, lotus patterns, Bukhansan, Gwanghwamun, and Mt. Geumgang — are ultimately tools of communication rather than expressions of a particular nationalism.
#평론 #유시민 #시사평론가 #소통의미학 #신장식 #2005
- Video Feature 2005 · Artist's Blog
2005 Light of Mt. Geumgang — Shin Jang-sik Artist Video (2005)
An artist documentary directed and produced by Shin Jang-sik with editing by Sohn Kyung-hwan (2005). Featuring photographs and footage from the artist's actual visits to Mt. Geumgang during the brief window of inter-Korean tourism — ship voyage, on-site bus transit, mountain hiking, and a poetry-and-painting exhibition held at Mt. Geumgang itself. Music — cellist Mischa Maisky performing "Longing for Mt. Geumgang" (from Best of Mischa Maisky).
#모란갤러리 #개인전 #Mt. Geumgang #금강산관광 #작가영상 #답사 #시화전 #손경환 #미샤마이스키 #그리운금강산 #2005
- Text Review 2004-01-02 · 이지호
Mt. Geumgang Seen Between Sashil (Realism) and Sa-eui (Idealism) (2004)
A critical essay by art critic Lee Ji-ho analyzing Shin Jang-sik's Mt. Geumgang paintings between Sashil (realism) and Sa-eui (idealism). Traces the artist's journey from conceptual to true-view (jingyeong) Mt. Geumgang, his use of hanji texture and yin-yang five-element colors, and comparisons with Western landscape traditions — Cezanne, Turner, Delacroix — while honoring the lineage of Gyeomjae Jeong Seon. Three works are analyzed individually: 〈Mt. Geumgang Cheonhwadae〉 (paired with Cezanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire), 〈Mt. Geumgang Cheonhwadae Pine〉 (linked to Chusa Kim Jeong-hui's Sehando), and 〈Baekdudaegan Seen from Mt. Geumgang〉 (with Delacroix and Gyeomjae).
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #이지호 #Cézanne #들라크루아 #겸재 정선 #음양오행
- Video Feature 2003-11-17 · Artist's Blog
10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition (Artist's Video) (2003)
A video edited and uploaded by the artist on his own blog — introducing his 2003 solo exhibition "10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang" at Savina Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (November 17 – December 27, 2003), commemorating the 5th anniversary of Mt. Geumgang tourism. The video weaves together field photographs from the artist's travels to Mt. Geumgang, sketches, and works featured in the exhibition.
#사비나미술관 #개인전 #Mt. Geumgang #금강산관광 #작가영상 #답사 #스케치 #2003
- Image Feature 2003-11-17 · Artist's Blog
Shin Jang-sik 〈10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang〉 — Installation Views (2003)
Installation views of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang〉, held at Savina Museum of Contemporary Art in November 2003. The set documents both the paintings — a survey of the artist's ten-year Mt. Geumgang practice since 1993 — and the accompanying 〈10 Years of Longing, Mt. Geumgang — Video Installation〉 (video and installation, 700×600×300 cm).
#Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #설치
- Mixed News 2003-11-14 · The Hankyoreh
Korean Press Coverage — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition '10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang'
Five Korean newspaper reports on Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition '10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang' at Savina Museum (Nov 17–Dec 24, 2003). Three Hankyoreh articles — Roh Hyung-suk (Nov 14, 2003) introduces the joint exhibition project organized by Hankyoreh and Hyundai Asan for the 5th anniversary of Mt. Geumgang tourism, Son Won-je (Nov 14, 2003) an artist interview, and Kim Bo-geun with photography by Hwang Seok-ju (Nov 16, 2003) another interview foregrounding the artist's quote 'Mt. Geumgang is an Arirang Pass to be crossed.' Kukmin Ilbo, Lee Gwang-hyung (Nov 17, 2003) — a survey of three simultaneous exhibitions (Savina · Kumho Museum · Gallery Art Side) under the heading 'Mt. Geumgang Encounters and Hopes.' Weekly Hankook, Jang Byeong-uk (Dec 18, 2003) — a 'Korean Profile' interview spotlighting Shin's signature 'oil-brush textural method' and the 'Geumgang Meditation' suspended paper sculptures.
#국내보도모음 #한겨레 #국민일보 #주간한국 #사비나미술관 #10년의그리움 #Mt. Geumgang #노형석 #손원제 #김보근 #황석주 #이광형 #장병욱 #금강산관광5주년 #2003
- Text Review 2003 · 김준기
"10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang" — Kim Joonki Critique (c. 2003)
A critical essay on Shin Jang-sik's 〈10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang〉 by art critic Kim Joonki. Set against the political backdrop of the unification movement of 1988–89, the start of Mt. Geumgang tourism in 1998, and the opening of the overland route in 2003, the essay traces a decade-long arc — from when Shin first painted Mt. Geumgang in 1993 through five solo exhibitions — and reads his trajectory as a shift from conceptual landscape (gwannyeom sansu) toward true-view landscape (jingyeong sansu). Tracking pictorial shifts in the most recent works (a 'oil-brush textural method,' restrained splatter, emphasis on point and line over color-field), Kim argues that Shin's painting moved from a phase where 'painterly aim suspended signified content' to one of 'authenticity secured through the union of substance and symbol.'
#평론 #김준기 #Mt. Geumgang #10년의그리움 #Jingyeongsansu #관념산수 #Korean Division #2003
- Text Review 2001-10-01 · 양정무
"Shin Jang-sik Exhibition" — Yang Jeong-mu review (2001)
A review by Yang Jeong-mu (Professor at Korea National University of Arts), published in the EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS section of Monthly Art Magazine, October 2001. Yang frames 〈Meditation — Mt. Geumgang〉 as "the eighth game Shin Jang-sik has played around the subject of Mt. Geumgang," and tracks the shift from the artist's borrowed eighteenth-century Joseon brush methods and nineteenth-century folk-painting forms toward realistic composition, chiaroscuro, and clearly defined ridges. The essay reads the exhibited 〈Mt. Geumgang Manmulsang — 1998.11.21〉 (a painting disassembled across eight canvases) and the eleven hanji seated figures as "the beginning of the destruction of mystery and a turn toward the artist's own interior," and suggests that Mt. Geumgang can again become a source of inspiration for Korean artists' self-expression.
#Mt. Geumgang #명상 #Jingyeongsansu
- Image Feature 2001-09-04 · Artist's Blog
Shin Jang-sik 〈Meditation — Mt. Geumgang〉 — Installation Views (2001)
Installation views of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Meditation — Mt. Geumgang〉, which opened as the inaugural show of Kookmin University Art Gallery in September 2001 and continued at Wooduk Gallery. The set includes views of the eight-canvas 〈Mt. Geumgang Manmulsang — 1998.11.21〉, 〈Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam〉 (681×181 cm), the eleven seated hanji 〈Meditation〉 figures, and exhibition-related materials (including the Monthly Art Magazine advertisement preserved by the artist).
#Mt. Geumgang #명상 #Jingyeongsansu
- Text Review 2001-08-01 · 강태성
"Mt. Geumgang, 'para-doxa'" — Kang Tae-seong review (2001)
A review by art critic Kang Tae-seong, written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Meditation — Mt. Geumgang〉 (September 2001). The essay reads the artist's Mt. Geumgang paintings together with the new sculptural series 〈Meditation〉 (eleven hanji figures) through the framework of "parallelism and paradox (para-doxa)." Mt. Geumgang is read as a paradoxical site "no longer reachable yet becoming reachable," and the essay traces how the difference between "drawing" and "scattering," between distant and close viewing, and between the "first-drawn layer" and "the later-scattered layer" — an "a and b" structure — produces what Plato called "alteration."
#Mt. Geumgang #명상 #Jingyeongsansu
- Text Review 1999-09-03 · 강태성
"Spaces of Affirmation, Negation, and Recollection" — Kang Tae-seong review (1999)
A review by art critic Kang Tae-seong, written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Mt. Geumgang — Life Force〉 at Pyo Gallery (September 1999) and also published in the October 1999 EXHIBITION section of Monthly Art Magazine. The essay observes how the artist's expression shifted from a photograph-based conceptual idiom to representation rooted in direct observation following his two visits to Mt. Geumgang in 1998 and 1999, framing the change through the concept of "appropriate ornament (decoratif)" — rooted in the Latin 'decere' (to be fitting). The "scattered lines" the artist has developed since his 1989 woodblock work are read as a practice unfolding across three spatial registers — affirmation, negation, and recollection.
#Mt. Geumgang #생명력 #Jingyeongsansu
- Mixed News 1999-07 · Artist's Blog
Press Coverage — 'Dream Journey to Geumgang: 300 Years of Mt. Geumgang Paintings' at Ilmin Museum of Art (1999)
A collection of newspaper coverage photographs documenting the 1999 group exhibition 'Dream Journey to Geumgang: 300 Years of Mt. Geumgang Paintings' at the Ilmin Museum of Art in July 1999. Shin Jang-sik participated as one of the contributing artists; his work 'Mt. Geumgang — Vitality' (1999, 728×227cm, acrylic and hanji on canvas) is mentioned in the coverage.
#몽유금강 #일민미술관 #금강산300년전 #단체전 #신문보도 #Mt. Geumgang #1999년7월 #금강산생명력 #1999
- Mixed Artist's Note 1999-05 · 신장식
Munhwa Ilbo, "Mt. Geumgang Essay — Majestic Form, Canvas Falls Short" — Shin Jang-sik Artist Essay (1999)
An artist essay by Shin Jang-sik published in the Munhwa Ilbo culture section's 'Mt. Geumgang Essay' column. Reflecting on his first visit to Mt. Geumgang in November 1998 and the renewed thirst it triggered, the artist meditates on the union of content and form in painting, then describes his second visit on 16 April 1999 — encounters with Manmulsang, Okryudong, and Guryongpokpo in spring. Written shortly before his participation in the Ilmin Museum's "Dream Journey to Geumgang — 300 Years of Mt. Geumgang Paintings" exhibition, the essay traces his transition from five Mt. Geumgang solo shows held between 1993 and 1998 (without direct experience of the mountain) to working from on-site sketching. He closes with a wish to one day paint and present together with North Korean artists.
#작가기고 #작가에세이 #문화일보 #금강산에세이 #다시찾은금강산전 #일민미술관 #몽유금강 #Mt. Geumgang #1999
- Text News 1998-12-22 · Munhwa Ilbo
[Interview] Western Painter Shin Jang-sik Presents Mt. Geumgang Sketches
Interview with Professor Shin Jang-sik, who visited Mt. Geumgang in person on the first tourism cruise on November 18, 1998. He shares his impressions of the landscape he had painted since 1995 in the Mt. Geumgang — Vitality series, and his plans for new work. The sketches from this trip became the 15 ink-on-paper works.
#Interview #Mt. Geumgang #사생화 #문화일보 #양성희 #금강산관광
- Text Review 1998-10-09 · 김유숙
Mt. Geumgang — Vitality (1998)
Critical essay by art theorist Kim Yu-sook on Shin Jang-sik's 1998 solo exhibition 〈Mt. Geumgang — Vitality〉 at Hanwon Museum of Art. Traces the shift in his work — from traditional patterns (cheongsachorong, lotus motifs) to the 1992 〈Arirang — Vitality〉 turn beyond decorativeness toward direct vitality of subject matter, and from 1995 onward a reinterpretation of Eastern landscape (sansu) spirit through Mt. Geumgang. Analyzes his signature dripping technique, yin-yang chromatic simplification, grid lines and silkscreen Bodhisattva objects as contemporary landscape language.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #생명력 #산수 #뿌리기 #Dripping #한원미술관 #김유숙
- Image Feature 1997-11-12 · Artist's Blog
Inside the 〈Meditation — 97.10.7〉 Exhibition at Hwarang Sagye (1997)
Five photographs from the artist's record of the 〈Meditation — 97.10.7〉 solo exhibition (November 12 – 22, 1997) at Hwarang Sagye, capturing the gallery interior during the show.
#명상 #화랑사계 #전시풍경 #개인전
- Mixed News 1997-03-24 · The Korea Economic Daily
The Korea Economic Daily — 'Embodying the Korean Spirit Reflected in Mt. Geumgang: Shin Jang-sik' (1997)
A Korea Economic Daily article (March 24, 1997) titled 'Embodying the Korean Spirit Reflected in Mt. Geumgang: Shin Jang-sik' — covering Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 'Arirang — Mt. Geumgang' at Pyo Gallery (March 25 – April 7, 1997).
#한국경제신문 #신문보도 #표갤러리 #아리랑-금강산 #개인전 #민족정신 #1997
- Text Artist's Note 1996 · 신장식
Artist Note by Shin Jang-sik — "Beyond the Sorrow-Soaked Arirang Pass: Toward a Lively Homecoming" (mid-to-late 1990s)
An artist note by the painter Shin Jang-sik. Beginning with personal memories of his childhood landscape — the Suseong stream, the front mountain, the village shrine, the cave, and his middle-school participation in the Silla Cultural Festival painting competition at Gyerim, Gyeongju — the essay frames the recovery of a 'homeland of the heart,' lost in Korea's rapid industrialization, as the core of his artistic work. Confronting the limits of imitating Western art, he proposes a return to Korean visual language rooted in folk culture (shamanism, geomancy, folk painting, the playful instruments of common people) as the foundation of his 〈Arirang〉 series — redefining Arirang not as lament (han) but as the will and hope of crossing the pass.
#작가노트 #Arirang #고향 #기층문화 #전통조형언어 #회고 #경주 #신라문화제 #1990s
- Image In Progress 1996 · Shin Jang-sik
Shin Jang-sik 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 (1996 INDECO Gallery) — Studio Process and Installation Views (1996)
A bundle of working materials from the 1996 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 solo at INDECO Gallery. The set comprises one studio shot of the large 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 (1996-004, now in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art collection) and three views of installation works from the same series shown in the gallery space. Together they show the artist's distinctive process — affixing hanji to canvas in tessellated planes, then drawing the mountain in acrylic over them — alongside the spatial sense of the 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 installation as it unfolded at INDECO Gallery.
#작업과정 #설치 #Mt. Geumgang #인데코갤러리
- Text Review 1995-02-21 · 박은순
Shin Jang-sik's Paintings of Mt. Geumgang — Park Eun-soon review (1995)
A critical essay by art historian Park Eun-soon on Shin Jang-sik's Mt. Geumgang series (1993–1995). Examines how the artist — who had never visited Mt. Geumgang — discovered the mountain through colonial-era photo albums, contemporary video footage, and the Mt. Geumgang paintings of Joseon masters such as Gyeomjae Jeong Seon; explores the rocky-peak forms of the outer Geumgang Manmulcho, the symbolism of blue, cobalt and white, the texture of mulberry paper underlay and dripping technique, and the meaning of the grid frame with bolt-and-nut motifs.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #박은순 #관념산수 #만물초 #뿌리기
- Mixed News 1995-02 · Artist's Blog
Press Coverage — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition 'Mt. Geumgang' at Pyo Gallery (1995)
Five photographs of newspaper articles (February 1995) and one exhibition poster covering Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 'Mt. Geumgang' at Pyo Gallery (February 21 – March 3, 1995). The media include JoongAng Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo, and the Korea Times.
#신문보도 #중앙일보 #조선일보 #한국일보 #표갤러리 #Mt. Geumgang #개인전 #1995년2월 #1995
- Mixed Feature 1995-01 · SPACE Magazine
SPACE Magazine, January 1995 — Shin Jang-sik's Artist Essay "Drawing Mt. Geumgang" (1995)
An artist essay 'Drawing Mt. Geumgang' contributed by Shin Jang-sik to the January 1995 issue of SPACE (Arts & Architecture & Environment) magazine. Following his earlier 'Arirang' series, the artist describes turning toward 'the vitality of nature' as a subject and arriving at Mt. Geumgang — drawing inspiration from the iconography of Jeong Seon, Korean folk paintings, and Kim Gyu-jin's Mt. Geumgang painting at Huijeongdang Hall (Changgyeonggung), while also addressing the nation's longing for a mountain made inaccessible by division. The essay is accompanied by an English translation by Park Hyun-Joo, and the magazine's cover features Shin's 〈Mt. Kumgang〉 (1994, paper and acrylic on canvas).
#공간 #SPACE #잡지기고 #작가에세이 #Mt. Geumgang #박현주번역 #표갤러리 #1994 #1995
- Mixed Review 1994-04 · 서정걸
Monthly Art Magazine, April 1994, "Reinterpreting Tradition, Expressing Life and Rhythm" — Seo Jeong-geol Critique (1994)
A critical feature published in the April 1994 issue of Monthly Art Magazine (월간미술), in the 'Young Vision' column. Reporter Seo Jeong-geol visits Shin Jang-sik's studio (a collective studio at the boundary of Seoul and Seongnam) and identifies 'rhythm and vitality' as the core aesthetic propositions of the artist's work. The piece traces Shin's interest in traditional and folk motifs ('Arirang,' 'Cheongsachorong') back to his role as Assistant Art Director for the 1988 Seoul Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, and reads his woodblock printmaking — together with his splatter and string-collage techniques — as a search for new formal language rooted in Korean sensibility. It also notes the artist's expanding traditional vocabulary as it moves from folk objects toward natural subjects (pine, dandelion, wild chrysanthemum, cockscomb).
#월간미술 #잡지평론 #서정걸 #리듬 #생명력 #전통미 #청사초롱 #Arirang #88올림픽 #1994
- Mixed Feature 1994 · Artist's Blog
Magazine Coverage — 'Painter Shin Jang-sik: Lanterns of Hope That Light the Darkness' (1994, estimated)
A magazine article titled 'Painter Shin Jang-sik: Lanterns of Hope That Light the Darkness.' The article discusses the artist's cheongsachorong (Korean traditional lantern) motif works.
#잡지보도 #청사초롱 #Arirang #Hope #1994
- Text Review 1993-04-30 · 정영목
"Shin Jang-sik's Formal Method Concerning 'What Is Ours'" — Chung Young-mok review (1993)
A review by art critic Chung Young-mok (Professor at Sookmyung Women's University; Western art history, art criticism) written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 at Gallery Icon (April 30 – May 11, 1993). Drawing extensively on earlier essays by Park Shin-ui, Choi Tae-man, Kim Young-jae, Kang Sung-won, Seo Sung-rok, and Oh Byung-uk that had accompanied Shin's solo exhibitions at Toh Gallery (1989) and Gallery Icon (1992), Chung traces the artist's path away from the direct iconography and folk reference of the 〈Arirang〉 period toward an objectified handling of "what is ours." After citing 〈Arirang — Morning〉 (1988, with its frontal-symmetrical janggo motif) and the 〈Arirang〉 works of 1991–92 (using mosquito coils as a formal substitute) as instances of "neutralizing the thematic," he renames the 1993 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 series as 'images of vegetable life' — analyzing, in terms of form and structure, how Jeong Seon's 〈Geumgangsan-do〉, a Japanese-colonial-era 〈Geumgang Photo Album〉, and 1990s North Korean broadcast footage shaped Shin's landscape form.
#평론 #정영목 #갤러리이콘 #Mt. Geumgang #정선 #산수화
- Text Artist's Note 1992-08-12 · 신장식
"On Lighting a Candle" — Artist Essay by Shin Jang-sik (1992)
A short painted essay "On Lighting a Candle" contributed by Shin Jang-sik to a 1992 newspaper culture page (publication unconfirmed) on 12 August 1992. The piece reflects on the artist's painterly stance — 'like the start of a ritual, let us light a candle and brighten our hearts' — published with the artist's portrait and reproductions of two works from the 〈Arirang-Prayer〉 series.
#작가에세이 #그림에세이 #신문기고 #Arirang #판화 #Candle #1992
- Image Feature 1992-06-13 · Artist's Blog
documenta IX — 'Encounter with Others' (Kassel, Germany, 1992)
Records of works submitted to the 9th documenta (Kassel, Germany, 1992) and the exhibition site. 'Encounter with Others' (Begegnung mit den Anderen) was a Korean group show staged at the K-18 venue and Hann. Münden. The two exhibited works were 〈Arirang-Happy Day〉 (1991, 130×194cm) and 〈Arirang-Prayer〉 (1992, 300호).
#전시기록 #도큐멘타 #documenta #카셀 #독일 #Arirang #1992
- Text Review 1992-05-12 · 서성록
"The Virtues of Tradition and Historicity" — Seo Sung-rok review (1992)
A review by art critic Seo Sung-rok written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition at Gallery Icon (Reopening Exhibition, May 12–24, 1992). Within the trajectory from his 1989 Toh Gallery show and 1991 Shinsegae Gallery show, the review traces how the artist redeploys hanji, the obangsaek colors, and folk iconographies — cheongsa-choreong lanterns, cockscombs, the taegeuk, Buddhist flame patterns, old coins, mosquito coils — as indicators of a Korean cosmology. The large-scale Gwanghwamun-Government-General composition is read as a visualization of the artist's historical consciousness around "the lost national fortune," while the review identifies clarity and analytical precision as strengths and notes the need for a more folkloric filter in formal device as a future task.
#평론 #서성록 #갤러리이콘 #Arirang
- Text Review 1992 · Artist's Blog
Shin Jang-sik Print Exhibition 〈Arirang〉 Essay — Anonymous (1992)
A short essay written for the 1992 touring print exhibition that travelled across Gallery 21, Sangmundang, and Gallery Ikon. The author is presumed unknown — no name appears in the surviving text. The piece reads the artist's practice through the concepts of "rhythm" and "vital force," quoting the artist's own statement that locating where one's breath meets the rhythm of materials is his research task — so that, when contrivance is set aside, nature's vital force and the artist's emotion emerge of their own.
#평론 #도록 #Arirang #판화 #리듬 #생명력 #작자미상
- Image Feature 1991-06 · Artist's Blog
Magazine Covers Featuring Shin Jang-sik's Works (1991-1993)
A compilation of five magazine covers from June 1991 through June 1993 that featured Shin Jang-sik's paintings — Wolgan Misool (Monthly Art), Cho Heung News (Cho Heung Bank), Hyundai Department Store, Kumho Culture Monthly, and Book & Life. The span of media types (art journal, bank newsletter, department-store magazine, corporate cultural review, general-readership monthly) illustrates the breadth of the artist's reception across Korean publishing in the early 1990s. The use of 〈Where Do Our Hearts Go?〉 (1992) and 〈Vitality〉 (1992) is identified on the covers.
#잡지표지 #작품활용 #미술잡지 #사보 #월간미술 #조흥소식 #현대백화점 #금호문화 #책과인생 #1991 #1992 #1993
- Text Review 1991-03-19 · 오병욱
〈Decorative Painting and the Pursuit of Tradition〉 — Oh Byung-uk review (1991)
A review by art critic Oh Byung-uk, written for the Shinsegae Gallery 〈Arirang〉 exhibition (March 1991) and also published in Wolgan Misool (Monthly Art) 1991. Reading Shin Jang-sik's painting as 'decorative,' it traces where pure painting meets the emotional fabric of Korean culture. After surveying the trajectory of Western painting from the Goncourt brothers through Neo-impressionism, Cubism, and abstraction — and locating decorativeness as the essential property of twentieth-century pure painting — Oh frames the artist's participation in the 1988 Seoul Olympics art team as the decisive turning point toward pure painting, and reads the 〈Arirang〉 series as a unified theme expressing joy rather than sorrow, the challenge of the future rather than hardship.
#평론 #오병욱 #Arirang #신세계미술관 #월간미술
- Image Feature 1991 · Artist's Blog
1st Sapporo International Contemporary Print Biennale Catalogue — Shin Jang-sik's 〈Arirang-Prayer II〉, Sponsors' Prize (1991)
A page from the 1st Sapporo International Contemporary Print Biennale catalogue (p. 24, 1991) featuring Shin Jang-sik's 〈Arirang-Prayer II〉, the Sponsors' Prize (レナウン 賞, sponsored by Renown Incorporated) winning work, with Japanese and English biographies — listing the 2nd Seoul International Miniature Print Exhibition (1982), the 8th Korea National Art Exhibition Grand Prize (1989), and the 4th Wakayama Print Biennale prize (1991).
#삿포로비엔날레 #판화비엔날레 #후원자상 #일본 #Arirang #판화 #1991
- Mixed Review 1990 · 최태만
Choi Tae-man Critique in 'Field of Creation' Magazine (1990)
A critique by art critic Choi Tae-man published in 1990 in the magazine 'Field of Creation' (창작의 현장). Focusing on Shin Jang-sik's woodblock print series 'Arirang,' the essay discusses the optimistic and progressive sentiment rooted in Korean folk tradition, the meaning of the artist's choice of woodblock as medium, and a dialectical attitude toward overcoming the contradictions of reality. The artist's blog preserves photographs of the printed magazine article alongside two photographs of the artist's print-making process.
#창작의현장 #잡지평론 #최태만 #Arirang #판화 #목판 #평론 #1990
- Mixed News 1989-08-25 · The Hankyoreh
Hankyoreh Press Coverage — 'Expressing Distinctive Vitality through the Arirang Theme' (1989)
A Hankyoreh newspaper article (August 25, 1989) covering Shin Jang-sik's work — titled 'Expressing Distinctive Vitality through the Arirang Theme.'
#한겨레 #신문보도 #Arirang #생명력 #1989
- Text Artist's Note 1989-08-23 · Shin Jang-sik
Artist Note — Shin Jang-sik "Arirang" Print Exhibition (1989)
Artist note for the 〈Arirang〉 series. Inspired by the cheongsachorong (blue-and-red lanterns) procession at the 1988 Seoul Olympics closing ceremony. Reinterprets Dankook University Museum lanterns with a soyeolbeop (vanishing-block) multi-color woodblock technique. The series emphasizes 'will and hope crossing the Arirang pass' rather than the lament of 'han'.
#작가노트 #Arirang #판화 #목판 #청사초롱 #소멸법 #올림픽
- Text Review 1989-08-23 · 최태만
Arirang: Self-Affirmation and Generosity (1989)
Critical essay by art critic Choi Taeman on Shin Jang-sik's 1989 〈Arirang〉 print exhibition. Argues that Arirang represents not passive lament ('han') but a future-oriented consciousness overcoming contradictions of reality, and analyzes how Shin reinterprets traditional symbols — cheongsachorong lanterns, candles, taegeuk — through his optimistic worldview, especially via the soyeolbeop (vanishing-block) woodblock technique.
#비평 #Arirang #판화 #목판 #소멸법 #최태만 #긍정적세계관
- Mixed Review 1989-06-22 · 박신의
Daily Sports, "Today's Perspective: A Search for Tradition" — Park Shin-eui Critique (1989)
A critique by art critic Park Shin-eui published in the daily newspaper Ilgan Sports (Daily Sports) on 22 June 1989, in the "Notable Works of the Month" column. Reviewing Shin Jang-sik's May 1989 solo exhibition 〈Arirang〉 at Toh Gallery, the essay examines the artist's aesthetic search for tradition — analyzing the principle of contracting and emanating vitality in 〈Arirang-Morning〉 and the playful reconciliation of opposites in 〈Arirang-Unity〉, while noting both Shin's achievements and the limits of his interpretive partiality toward tradition. The same newspaper page also carried the selection note (panel: Park Yong-sook, Yun Bum-mo, Park Shin-eui) and an interview with the artist by reporter Lee Nam — both preserved in the body text as printed.
#일간스포츠 #박신의 #신문평론 #Arirang #평론 #1989
- Mixed News 1989-01-17 · Der Tagesspiegel
Der Tagesspiegel, "Die Koreaner kommen" — Shin Jang-sik's First Berlin Solo Exhibition Coverage (1989)
A review published in the Feuilleton (culture) section of the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel on 17 January 1989. The article covers the simultaneous solo exhibitions of three Korean artists — Shin Jang-sik, Sung-Hwan Bae, and Sang-Bong Lee — at Galerie Roho (Sesenheimer Straße 19, Berlin), running through 23 January 1989. The critic reads Shin Jang-sik's flag- and mask-images on fibrous Korean paper as a reinterpretation of folkloric origins, and highlights a shared 'courage of empty surface' and 'utmost economy of means' across the three painters. Coming shortly after the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the piece marks a moment when Berlin's art scene actively expanded its exchange with Korean art — and stands as a record of Shin Jang-sik's first overseas solo exhibition.
#베를린 #독일 #첫해외전시 #갤러리로호 #한국3인전 #신문평론 #DerTagesspiegel #판화 #1989
- Mixed Feature 1989 · Artist's Blog
Magazine Coverage — 'Expressing the Universality of Our Own': Shin Jang-sik (1989)
A 1989 magazine article titled 'Expressing the Universality of Our Own' — covering Shin Jang-sik's artistic world and his work with Korean motifs. The article discusses 〈Arirang -Soul〉 and 〈Arirang-Unity〉.
#잡지보도 #우리것 #보편성 #한국적모티프 #1989
- Mixed Feature 1989 · Artist's Blog
Grand Prize, Printmaking Division — 〈Arirang-Happy Day V〉, 8th Korea National Art Exhibition — Korean Press Coverage of Shin Jang-sik (1989)
A compilation of Korean newspaper coverage on Shin Jang-sik's 〈Arirang-Happy Day V〉, the Grand Prize winner of the printmaking division at the 8th Korea National Art Exhibition (1989). The Chosun Ilbo featured all four grand-prize-winning works (Western painting, Korean painting, sculpture, printmaking) on a single page under the heading 'Grand Prize Works on Paper'; three other newspapers center on the artist's interview, addressing his role as Assistant Art Director for the 1988 Seoul Olympics opening/closing ceremonies, the iconography of the cheongsachorong lantern, and his vision of Arirang as a 'symbol of resilience and hope, not lament.'
#대한민국미술대전 #대상 #신문보도모음 #조선일보 #Arirang #판화 #88올림픽 #청사초롱 #1989
- Mixed Review 1989 · 최태만
"Searching for the Pulse of Tradition" — Choi Tae-man Critique (1989)
A 1989 critical essay by art critic Choi Tae-man on Shin Jang-sik. Divided into two sections — "The Question of Tradition in Korean Art" and "The Possibilities and Limits of Searching for Tradition" — the essay traces how Shin's role on the art team for the 1988 Seoul Olympics opening and closing ceremonies led him into a sustained exploration of tradition. It analyzes the iconography of 〈Arirang — Morning〉(its five directional colors, flame-tooth motif, and Goguryeo mural references), Shin's use of flag forms drawn from agricultural and military traditions, and his deployment of folk-painting motifs (taegeuk, gogok, bangsangsi mask). Choi also identifies limits in Shin's diagrammatic and explanatory tendencies and the open question of how such motifs hold persuasive power within industrial society.
#평론 #최태만 #전통 #깃발 #민화 #오방색 #화염각 #88올림픽 #Arirang #1989
Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001) — From the Peace House to the National Assembly
Artist's Blog
A photographic record of Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001) being relocated from the Peace House at the 2018 inter-Korean summit venue through the National Assembly to its current meeting room.
#Mt. Geumgang #Sangpaldam #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #국회
From Arirang to Mt. Geumgang — World Heritage as Contemporary Art: The Story of Shin Jang-sik (Part 2) — Artistalk EP.194
GongshallTV · 15:47
An interview tracing how the artist's Korean motifs — from Arirang to Mt. Geumgang — are translated into contemporary painting. (Part 2)
#Interview #Arirang #Mt. Geumgang #Artistalk
Inside the Studio of Shin Jang-sik, Painter of Mt. Geumgang (Part 1) — Artistalk EP.194
GongshallTV · 17:53
A studio-visit interview where the artist discusses his process and gaze on Mt. Geumgang. (Part 1)
#Interview #Studio #Mt. Geumgang #Artistalk
'Citizen of Kookmin: Shin Jang-sik' — Curated Special Exhibition Introduction Video (2024)
Myungwon Museum
An introductory video for the curated special exhibition 'Citizen of Kookmin: Shin Jang-sik', held at Myungwon Museum of Kookmin University in October 2024. Spanning 11 works including pieces from the museum's collection, the video traces the artist's life and oeuvre chronologically, weaving together images of his works and personal photographs.
#명원박물관 #기획특별전 #국민대학교 #작가영상 #2024
Book: Shin Jang-sik, Painting Mt. Geumgang — by Choi Tae-man (2024)
Artist's Blog
A monograph documenting Shin Jang-sik's artistic world centered on Mt. Geumgang, which he has painted since 1993. Written by Choi Tae-man, art critic and the artist's college contemporary; published by AM Art in June 2024.
#도서 #평전 #작가론 #최태만 #Mt. Geumgang
Light and Hope of Mt. Seorak Gongnyong Ridge Cheonhwadae — In Progress (2022)
Shin Jang-sik
A step-by-step record of the 391×162cm canvas — hanji collage and acrylic layers building up, photographed by the artist himself.
#제작과정 #Baekdudaegan #Mt. Seorak #Cheonhwadae
2022 Ministry of Unification Calendar — Featuring Works by Shin Jang-sik
Artist's Blog
The 2022 Ministry of Unification calendar features the artist's works on monthly pages, with a cover and back cover.
#달력 #통일부 #출판물
Inside the 〈Mt. Geumgang — Hope〉 Exhibition at Dongduk Art Gallery (2020)
Artist's Blog
Thirteen photographs taken by the artist of the 〈Mt. Geumgang — Hope〉 solo exhibition (July 1 – 6, 2020) at Dongduk Art Gallery, capturing the Mt. Geumgang series installed across the gallery's entire floors.
#Mt. Geumgang #Hope #동덕아트갤러리 #전시풍경 #개인전
Press Coverage of Shin Jang-sik's Solo Exhibition — "Diamond Mountains: Longing for the 12 Spectacles" (2018)
Artist's Blog
Two interviews on the occasion of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition Longing for the 12 Spectacles of Mt. Geumgang (September 2018, Kumsan Gallery). The Hankyoreh feature in its “Tea Time” column (Lee Gil-woo, 2018-09-07) covers 25 years of practice, the technique behind Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001) displayed at the April 27 inter-Korean summit, the 1988 Seoul Olympics cheongsachorong lantern performance, and the artist's first Mt. Geumgang visit in 1998. The Edaily interview (Oh Hyun-ju, 2018-09-17) adds the Peace House loan history of Sangpaldam (an initial two-week NIS contract extended free of charge through year-end) and discusses the palette and technique of new works such as Light of Manmulsang, Mt. Geumgang (2018, 291×112 cm).
#Interview #Mt. Geumgang #금강 12경 #금산갤러리 #한겨레 #짬 #이길우 #이데일리 #오현주 #오방색 #비로봉 #Peace House
〈"Painting the 12 Spectacles of Mount Kumgang Here and Now"〉 — Critique by Choi Tae-man (2018)
최태만
Critique by art critic Choi Tae-man, written for the exhibition Shin Jangsik: Diamond Mountains (September 2018, Kumsan Gallery). Analyzes the artist's intent in dividing the Diamond Mountains into twelve monthly scenes, locates the work within the East Asian tradition of celebrated-scenery painting (Wuyi-jiuquge, Xiaoxiang Bajing-tu), and reads the bluish auspicious light (서기/瑞氣) flowing through the series as a marker of temporal layering. Includes both Korean and English texts.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #그리운 금강산 #금강 12경 #최태만 #금산갤러리 #사계도 #오방색 #서기
Korean Painter Shin Jang-sik on U.S. Television (Fox 5 New York) — The Summit Painting and the Met's Diamond Mountains Exhibition
Fox 5 New York
Fox 5 New York TV coverage connecting Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam—displayed at the April 27 inter-Korean summit—with the contemporaneous "Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art" special exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The segment features a Skype interview with artist Shin Jang-sik and remarks from Soyoung Lee, curator for Korean art at the Met.
#해외보도 #메트로폴리탄 #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #Sangpaldam #Mt. Geumgang #Fox5NY #Soyoung Lee #큐레이터
The Diamond Mountains as Backdrop to the Historic Korean Summit — Curator's Essay by Soyoung Lee (The Met Perspectives) (2018)
이소영
On the occasion of the April 27, 2018 inter-Korean summit—where Shin Jang-sik's Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam appeared as the backdrop—Soyoung Lee, curator of Korean art at The Met, introduces the museum's exhibition Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art (Feb 7 – May 20, 2018) and Shin's practice. The essay analyzes two works featured in the show—The Light at Cheonhwadae Peaks (2014, from the series Twelve Scenes of Mount Geumgang) and Raining on Manmulsang Rocks (2014)—contrasting the brilliant acrylic luminosity with the muted ink-painting effect, and traces the true-view landscape (jingyeong sansuhwa) tradition back to the 18th-century master Jeong Seon, who anchors the exhibition. Published on The Met Perspectives, April 30, 2018.
#비평 #큐레이터 #메트로폴리탄 #Mt. Geumgang #Cheonhwadae #Manmulsang #12경 #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #Sangpaldam #겸재정선 #이소영 #Soyoung Lee #박물관공식
The 'Mt. Geumgang of Hope' That Adorned the Summit Room — The Artist's Behind-the-Scenes Story
KBS News
KBS News video aired the day after the April 27, 2018 inter-Korean summit. Features Shin Jang-sik's Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001), the monumental painting hung in the meeting room of the Peace House at Panmunjom, along with an interview with the artist on the painting's meaning and behind-the-scenes story.
#영상 #KBS #Mt. Geumgang #Sangpaldam #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #Interview
Press Coverage: Shin Jang-sik's "Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam" at the April 27 Inter-Korean Summit Venue (2018)
Artist's Blog
Five-outlet coverage surrounding the April 27, 2018 inter-Korean summit and the painting Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam (2001, 681×181 cm) installed in the second-floor meeting room of the Peace House at Panmunjom. On April 26 (eve of the summit), three phone interviews — Yonhap News (Jeong A-ran), JoongAng Ilbo (Lee Eun-ju), and Kyunghyang Shinmun — cover the painting's technique (fusing ink-painting lines, folk-painting colors, and contemporary landscape sensibility around the Cheonhwadae motif), 25 years of practice (the 1998 first North Korea visit that shifted his work from conceptual to realist landscape), the Mt. Geumgang lineage in Korean art history (Jeong Seon's Geumgang-jeondo, Byeon Gwan-sik's Samseonam), and the other artworks installed throughout the Peace House (Min Jeong-gi's Bukhansan, Kim Jun-gwon's San-un, Park Dae-seong's Ilchul-bong). On April 27 (summit day), MoneyToday (Shin Hyeon-woo) reports the Blue House quote that the painting replaced a Mt. Halla piece originally hung in that spot. On April 28 (day after), OhmyNews (Lee Ju-yeon) publishes a full Q&A spot-interview: the painting had been stored in the artist's studio for 17 years since 2001, and the artist's analogy that "if Brandenburg Gate symbolizes German unification, Mt. Geumgang would symbolize Korean unification."
#Interview #Mt. Geumgang #Sangpaldam #Cheonhwadae #Peace House #Inter-Korean Summit #Baekdudaegan #연합뉴스 #정아란 #중앙일보 #이은주 #경향신문 #머니투데이 #신현우 #오마이뉴스 #이주연
Inside the Metropolitan Museum's "Diamond Mountains" Exhibition (2018)
Artist's Blog
Thirty-three photographs taken by the artist at the Diamond Mountains - Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art exhibition (Feb 7 - May 20, 2018) at The Met's Arts of Korea Gallery. The images capture the installation including the artist's own The Light on the Cheonhwadae and Raining on Manmulsang, alongside Jeong Seon's true-view landscape albums, modern masters such as Byun Kwan-sik and Lee Ungno, and Elizabeth Keith's Mt. Geumgang.
#메트로폴리탄 #Mt. Geumgang #평창올림픽 #전시풍경 #한국실 #겸재정선 #Met #박물관
Korean Press Coverage: Met Museum 'Diamond Mountains' Special Exhibition (2018)
Artist's Blog
Three-outlet print coverage of the Met Museum's 'Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art' special exhibition, marking the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and the Korean Gallery's 20th anniversary. Artist Shin Jang-sik featured as a contributing contemporary artist.
#메트로폴리탄 #Mt. Geumgang #평창올림픽 #전시보도
Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Page — "Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art" (2018)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met's official exhibition page for "Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art" (February 7 – May 20, 2018), marking the 20th anniversary of The Met's Arts of Korea Gallery and coinciding with South Korea's hosting of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Nearly thirty works depicting Mt. Geumgang from the eighteenth century to the present, including a designated National Treasure album by Jeong Seon (1676–1759) on loan from the National Museum of Korea — most never before displayed in the U.S. Shin Jang-sik featured as a contemporary contributor with Winter Mt. Geumgang and Light of Manmulsang. Two official Met videos embedded — the exhibition introduction and the Sunday at The Met lecture on "Landscapes: Real and Imagined." Organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the National Museum of Korea (NMK). The New York Times called it "a melancholy beauty of a show ... flabbergasting loans."
#메트로폴리탄 #Mt. Geumgang #평창올림픽 #전시정보 #박물관공식 #한국실 #겸재정선 #Met
Hyunbul News Coverage — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition "Asking the Way on the Road"
Hyunbul News
Hyunbul News (September 15, 2017) coverage of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition "Asking the Way on the Road" (September 20–26, 2017, Gallery DOS, Seoul). The exhibition weaves the artist's recurring motifs—Arirang, Mt. Geumgang, Buddhist imagery, journeys into the world, COSMOS, candlelight, and Arirang once again—under the unifying theme of "the Road." Featured works mentioned include Arirang, Light of Okryudong, Samadhi (2014), The Road to Jangche No. 3, and Candles Sparkle Like Stars in the Night Sky (2016). The artist also recalls that his Buddhist subject matter began in 2007 after encountering the Myogilsang Buddha statue in inner Mt. Geumgang.
#신문보도 #갤러리도스 #개인전 #Path #Arirang #Mt. Geumgang #불상 #Candle #현대불교
Beyond Longing, Hand In Hand (2015)
신동인
A critical essay tracing Shin Jang-sik's 22-year body of Mt. Geumgang work through the lens of reunification and peace, starting from the 1988 Seoul Olympics anthem 'Hand In Hand'. It charts his shift from conceptual landscape (1993–98) to true-view landscape (post-1998) and positions his 2015 New York exhibition as the threshold of a new question — what would a 'unified-Korean value' look like.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #평화 #통일 #그리운금강12경
Beopbo News Coverage — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition "To That Shore"
Beopbo News
Beopbo News (June 25, 2014, issue 1250) coverage of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition "To That Shore" (June 25–29, 2014, Noam Gallery, Insadong, Seoul). The exhibition is themed on the artist's "interpretation and practice of pāramitā" — the artist explains that "To That Shore" derives from "crossing over to the shore of enlightenment," and offers his own readings of the Arirang Pass, Mt. Geumgang, and Samadhi. Art critic Choi Tae-man analyzes the artist's Buddhist imagery — "Perhaps it is not the Buddha statue itself, but a means to understand the deep contemplative essence dwelling within it."
#신문보도 #노암갤러리 #개인전 #저 언덕으로 #바라밀 #깨달음 #Samadhi #최태만 #불상 #법보신문
〈To the Other Shore〉 — Artist Note and Choi Tae-man Review (2014)
신장식; 최태만
A combined artist note and critical review by art critic Choi Tae-man for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈To the Other Shore〉 at Noam Gallery in June 2014. The artist explains that 'To the Other Shore' derives from the Buddhist phrase 'crossing over to the other shore of awakening' (pāramitā 波羅蜜), and that the other shore can be the 'Arirang Pass,' 'Mt. Geumgang,' or 'samādhi — the completion of practice.' It is, in his framing, the artist's own 'Arirang of hope' that moves from the suffering of this shore to the ideal of the far shore. Choi then traces the artist's self-identification as a 'pilgrim on the road,' arguing that Shin's arc from Arirang through Mt. Geumgang to Buddhist iconography ultimately follows the same trajectory — a search for the 'Arirang of hope.'
#저 언덕으로 #길 위의 수행자 #Samadhi
Kookmin University 'The Professor's Study' Episode 32 — Interview with Prof. Shin Jang-sik (2013)
Artist's Blog
Episode 32 of Kookmin University's in-house interview series for students, 'The Professor's Study,' featuring Prof. Shin Jang-sik of the College of Fine Arts. The professor reflects on what a 'study' means to him as an artist and shares motivational advice for students. Visible in the studio background are the work-in-progress of Mt. Geumgang Pine Tree and a painting from the Samadhi series.
#국민대학교 #교수님의서재 #작가인터뷰 #예술대학 #미술학부 #서재 #교육 #작가영상 #2013
Buddhist Enlightenment at Its Peak in 'Samadhi' Paintings
Hyunbul News
Coverage of Kookmin University professor Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Samadhi〉 (Nov 2012 — Nov 27, Space Sun+, Seoul). Eleven works depicting the Buddha in samadhi, drawn from the artist's pilgrimage research across India, Pakistan, Tibet's Gandharan ruins, Gyeongju, and Mt. Geumgang. The article traces how the artist's encounter with Myogilsangam relief at Mt. Geumgang led him into Buddhist imagery, and how Joseon star charts, Gyeongju Namsan pines, Dunhuang flying figures, and Yongjusa temple bells appear as backgrounds — positioning the artist as a 'pilgrim on the path' in his fifties.
#신문기사 #불교미술 #Samadhi #개인전 #간다라
The Mind, My Mind, Our Mind — Buddha-nature Spreading Through the Universe (2012)
신장식
A short artist's note written alongside the 〈Samadhi〉 series — reflections on mind, dependent origination, and samadhi, in poetic form.
#작가노트 #시 #Samadhi #Buddhism
〈Pilgrim on the Road, or One Who Searches for the Path〉 — Choi Tae-man review (2012)
최태만
A critical essay by art critic Choi Tae-man written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Samādhi〉 at Space Sun+ in November 2012. The essay reads the artist's Buddha-image paintings through the concept of "samādhi" and the image of a "pilgrim on the road." After 〈Inner Geumgang Myogilsang〉 (2007), the artist's Buddha-image motif evolved through his 2011 Silk Road pilgrimage (Xi'an–Pamir–Gandhara), moving from icons of worship governed by the 32 major and 80 minor marks toward an externalization of the artist's own "reverent awe." Choi traces references across Gupta-style Sarnath, Gandhara and Mathura styles, the Mireuk Triad at Samhwaryeong in Gyeongju, the Maijishan grottoes, and others; he analyzes how the artist applies paper pulp to render the granite texture of the Buddha figures while flatly combining apsaras and candle motifs, producing a picture plane where "representation and expression, three-dimensional and flat, figurative and abstract" coexist. The essay closes by likening the artist's path to the three Buddhist practices of vipassanā, sati, and samādhi, ultimately framing his pursuit as the "Arirang of hope."
#Samadhi #불상 #길 위의 수행자
Artist Note — 'In My Life, the 50s Are Pilgrims on the Road' (2011)
Shin Jang-sik
A short artist note posted by Shin Jang-sik on his own blog — under the self-identifying declaration "In my life, the 50s are pilgrims on the road," the note unfolds four short reflections on the identity of the artist's path and the pilgrim's path, and the artist's wish to sing an 'Arirang of Hope.' Captions for two key works — Arirang — Joyful Day and Mt. Geumgang Manmulsang — accompany the text.
#작가노트 #길위의수행자 #50대 #Arirang #희망의아리랑 #금강산만물상 #빛 #수행 #예술가의길
Okinawa International University Symposium — 'Mt. Geumgang Paintings' (Shin Jang-sik) (2011)
신장식
Shin Jang-sik's symposium presentation at Okinawa International University titled 'Mt. Geumgang Paintings.' The main text comprises six sections — (1) Tradition of Mt. Geumgang painting, (2) Division and Mt. Geumgang, (3) Re-encountering Mt. Geumgang, (4) Conceptual Mt. Geumgang painting, (5) Realist Mt. Geumgang painting, (6) Prospects of Mt. Geumgang painting — followed by a sequence of the artist's Mt. Geumgang works (1993-2007) in scholarly order. Several works carry the artist's own commentary or quoted critical text by art critic Kang Tae-seong.
#학술발표 #오키나와국제대학 #Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #관념산수 #실경산수 #작가발표문 #강태성 #2011
〈Shin Jang-sik's 'Mt. Geumgang' and Cézanne's 'La montagne Sainte-Victoire'〉 — Kim Jin-a review (2010)
김진아
A critical essay by aesthetician Kim Jin-a (Seoul National University) written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter〉 at Gallery INDECO in October 2010. While noting the apparent similarity — both artists having spent years painting a single mountain — Kim argues that Shin's 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 stands at the opposite pole from Cézanne's 〈Sainte-Victoire〉. Cézanne distorted the actual shape of the mountain to render it as it appeared to his individual sensation; Shin's 〈Mt. Geumgang〉, by contrast, is painted as the mountain anyone can see and recognize — a mountain of "us" rather than of an individual's perception.
#Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #사계
Official Posters of the 13th Busan International Film Festival — 〈Arirang-Hope I〉 (2008)
Artist's Blog
Official poster of the 13th Busan International Film Festival and Asian Film Market poster, designed by BIFF art director Choi Sun-dae using Shin Jang-sik's 〈Arirang-Hope〉 (1991) as the original artwork.
#부산국제영화제 #공식 포스터 #Arirang #Hope #아시안필름마켓
Interview with Shin Jang-sik for the 13th Busan International Film Festival (2008)
Artist's Blog
An interview with Shin Jang-sik, whose 〈Arirang-Hope〉 was selected as the original artwork for the 13th BIFF official poster. Six topics include the meaning of the painting, his 1988 Seoul Olympics art experience, his collaboration on Kang Woo-suk's film 〈Hanbando〉, and his future creative direction.
#Interview #부산국제영화제 #Arirang #Hope #한반도 #강우석
An Art Critic and a Painter's Tibet Travels — Book: Five Colors of Lungta and White Khata
Yonhap News
News coverage of the Tibetan art guidebook 〈Five Colors of Lungta and White Khata〉 (Dahal Media) co-authored by critic Choi Tae-man and painter Shin Jang-sik, along with the accompanying solo exhibition at Moran Gallery, Insadong. Covers the book's content, the travel context, and the exhibition schedule.
#보도 #연합뉴스 #티베트 #다섯 빛깔 룽다 #다할미디어 #모란갤러리
'From Lhasa to Kathmandu' — Tibet's Nature and Culture in Clear, Translucent Color (2007)
최태만
An accompanying critique by critic Choi Tae-man, who traveled with Shin Jang-sik through Tibet in 2005. Covers the Friendship Highway route from Lhasa to Kathmandu, the meaning of lungta and mani stones in Tibetan life, and the artist's clear translucent colors.
#비평 #티베트 #라싸 #카트만두 #룽다 #마니석 #우정공로 #최태만
Film 〈Hanbando〉 Cheong Wa Dae Set — Installation of Shin Jang-sik's Works (2006)
Artist's Blog
Behind-the-scenes photographs of the Cheong Wa Dae presidential office set in Kang Woo-suk's film 〈Hanbando〉 (2006), with Shin Jang-sik's 〈Mt. Geumgang Manmulsang〉 and 〈Trees of Manmulsang〉 installed as backdrop. Visual evidence of works the artist later mentioned in the 2008 Busan International Film Festival interview.
#한반도 #강우석 #청와대 #영화 #세트 #Mt. Geumgang #Manmulsang
Artist Note by Shin Jang-sik — "Between the Northeast Project and Yasukuni" (2006)
신장식
An artist note by the painter Shin Jang-sik. Reflecting on Korea's situation between China's Northeast Project (Dongbuk-gongjeong) and Japan's Yasukuni, with parallel attention to its Tibet Project, the essay places contemporary interest in Mt. Baekdu and Goguryeo within the larger question of national identity. Inseparable from the country's division, Shin argues for an active engagement with our identity and history, threading the reflection through his own painting 〈Mt. Baekdu〉 (2006-015).
#작가노트 #백두산 #동북공정 #야스쿠니 #정체성 #Korean Division #통일 #2006
'Light of Mt. Geumgang' — Review by Choi Tae-man (2005)
최태만
A critical essay by art critic Choi Tae-man for Shin Jang-sik's 2005 solo exhibition 〈Light of Mt. Geumgang〉 at Moran Gallery. Discusses the advance from his 2004 〈Ten Years of Longing〉 toward grand landscape (daegyeong-sansu), the spiritual rather than physical dimension of light, Mt. Geumgang's political-historical weight as a divided peninsula's witness, and the lineage to Gyeomjae Jeong Seon's true-view landscape tradition.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #빛 #Jingyeongsansu #최태만 #모란갤러리 #겸재 정선 #Korean Division
"The Joy of Having a Painter Friend, Shin Jang-sik, the Aesthetics of His Communication" — Yoo Si-min Critique (2005)
유시민
A critical essay by political commentator Yoo Si-min on Shin Jang-sik. Contrasting the common stereotype of painters as 'unfathomable eccentrics' with Shin's "exceptionally common-sense" persona, Yoo reads the artist's work through the lens of 'aesthetic communication' (소통의 미학). He recalls Shin's 1970s entrepreneurial New-Year-card business at Sim-In High School in Daegu, the legendary case of submitting an oil painting to the Gyeongbuk provincial competition under his older brother's name, and the 1977 reading-room conversation with friends that convinced his parents to let him enter art school. The piece argues that Shin's recurring motifs since 1988 — flags, cheongsachorong lanterns, lotus patterns, Bukhansan, Gwanghwamun, and Mt. Geumgang — are ultimately tools of communication rather than expressions of a particular nationalism.
#평론 #유시민 #시사평론가 #소통의미학 #신장식 #2005
2005 Light of Mt. Geumgang — Shin Jang-sik Artist Video (2005)
Artist's Blog
An artist documentary directed and produced by Shin Jang-sik with editing by Sohn Kyung-hwan (2005). Featuring photographs and footage from the artist's actual visits to Mt. Geumgang during the brief window of inter-Korean tourism — ship voyage, on-site bus transit, mountain hiking, and a poetry-and-painting exhibition held at Mt. Geumgang itself. Music — cellist Mischa Maisky performing "Longing for Mt. Geumgang" (from Best of Mischa Maisky).
#모란갤러리 #개인전 #Mt. Geumgang #금강산관광 #작가영상 #답사 #시화전 #손경환 #미샤마이스키 #그리운금강산 #2005
Mt. Geumgang Seen Between Sashil (Realism) and Sa-eui (Idealism) (2004)
이지호
A critical essay by art critic Lee Ji-ho analyzing Shin Jang-sik's Mt. Geumgang paintings between Sashil (realism) and Sa-eui (idealism). Traces the artist's journey from conceptual to true-view (jingyeong) Mt. Geumgang, his use of hanji texture and yin-yang five-element colors, and comparisons with Western landscape traditions — Cezanne, Turner, Delacroix — while honoring the lineage of Gyeomjae Jeong Seon. Three works are analyzed individually: 〈Mt. Geumgang Cheonhwadae〉 (paired with Cezanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire), 〈Mt. Geumgang Cheonhwadae Pine〉 (linked to Chusa Kim Jeong-hui's Sehando), and 〈Baekdudaegan Seen from Mt. Geumgang〉 (with Delacroix and Gyeomjae).
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #이지호 #Cézanne #들라크루아 #겸재 정선 #음양오행
10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition (Artist's Video) (2003)
Artist's Blog
A video edited and uploaded by the artist on his own blog — introducing his 2003 solo exhibition "10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang" at Savina Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (November 17 – December 27, 2003), commemorating the 5th anniversary of Mt. Geumgang tourism. The video weaves together field photographs from the artist's travels to Mt. Geumgang, sketches, and works featured in the exhibition.
#사비나미술관 #개인전 #Mt. Geumgang #금강산관광 #작가영상 #답사 #스케치 #2003
Shin Jang-sik 〈10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang〉 — Installation Views (2003)
Artist's Blog
Installation views of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang〉, held at Savina Museum of Contemporary Art in November 2003. The set documents both the paintings — a survey of the artist's ten-year Mt. Geumgang practice since 1993 — and the accompanying 〈10 Years of Longing, Mt. Geumgang — Video Installation〉 (video and installation, 700×600×300 cm).
#Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #설치
Korean Press Coverage — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition '10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang'
The Hankyoreh
Five Korean newspaper reports on Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition '10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang' at Savina Museum (Nov 17–Dec 24, 2003). Three Hankyoreh articles — Roh Hyung-suk (Nov 14, 2003) introduces the joint exhibition project organized by Hankyoreh and Hyundai Asan for the 5th anniversary of Mt. Geumgang tourism, Son Won-je (Nov 14, 2003) an artist interview, and Kim Bo-geun with photography by Hwang Seok-ju (Nov 16, 2003) another interview foregrounding the artist's quote 'Mt. Geumgang is an Arirang Pass to be crossed.' Kukmin Ilbo, Lee Gwang-hyung (Nov 17, 2003) — a survey of three simultaneous exhibitions (Savina · Kumho Museum · Gallery Art Side) under the heading 'Mt. Geumgang Encounters and Hopes.' Weekly Hankook, Jang Byeong-uk (Dec 18, 2003) — a 'Korean Profile' interview spotlighting Shin's signature 'oil-brush textural method' and the 'Geumgang Meditation' suspended paper sculptures.
#국내보도모음 #한겨레 #국민일보 #주간한국 #사비나미술관 #10년의그리움 #Mt. Geumgang #노형석 #손원제 #김보근 #황석주 #이광형 #장병욱 #금강산관광5주년 #2003
"10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang" — Kim Joonki Critique (c. 2003)
김준기
A critical essay on Shin Jang-sik's 〈10 Years of Longing for Mt. Geumgang〉 by art critic Kim Joonki. Set against the political backdrop of the unification movement of 1988–89, the start of Mt. Geumgang tourism in 1998, and the opening of the overland route in 2003, the essay traces a decade-long arc — from when Shin first painted Mt. Geumgang in 1993 through five solo exhibitions — and reads his trajectory as a shift from conceptual landscape (gwannyeom sansu) toward true-view landscape (jingyeong sansu). Tracking pictorial shifts in the most recent works (a 'oil-brush textural method,' restrained splatter, emphasis on point and line over color-field), Kim argues that Shin's painting moved from a phase where 'painterly aim suspended signified content' to one of 'authenticity secured through the union of substance and symbol.'
#평론 #김준기 #Mt. Geumgang #10년의그리움 #Jingyeongsansu #관념산수 #Korean Division #2003
"Shin Jang-sik Exhibition" — Yang Jeong-mu review (2001)
양정무
A review by Yang Jeong-mu (Professor at Korea National University of Arts), published in the EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS section of Monthly Art Magazine, October 2001. Yang frames 〈Meditation — Mt. Geumgang〉 as "the eighth game Shin Jang-sik has played around the subject of Mt. Geumgang," and tracks the shift from the artist's borrowed eighteenth-century Joseon brush methods and nineteenth-century folk-painting forms toward realistic composition, chiaroscuro, and clearly defined ridges. The essay reads the exhibited 〈Mt. Geumgang Manmulsang — 1998.11.21〉 (a painting disassembled across eight canvases) and the eleven hanji seated figures as "the beginning of the destruction of mystery and a turn toward the artist's own interior," and suggests that Mt. Geumgang can again become a source of inspiration for Korean artists' self-expression.
#Mt. Geumgang #명상 #Jingyeongsansu
Shin Jang-sik 〈Meditation — Mt. Geumgang〉 — Installation Views (2001)
Artist's Blog
Installation views of Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Meditation — Mt. Geumgang〉, which opened as the inaugural show of Kookmin University Art Gallery in September 2001 and continued at Wooduk Gallery. The set includes views of the eight-canvas 〈Mt. Geumgang Manmulsang — 1998.11.21〉, 〈Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam〉 (681×181 cm), the eleven seated hanji 〈Meditation〉 figures, and exhibition-related materials (including the Monthly Art Magazine advertisement preserved by the artist).
#Mt. Geumgang #명상 #Jingyeongsansu
"Mt. Geumgang, 'para-doxa'" — Kang Tae-seong review (2001)
강태성
A review by art critic Kang Tae-seong, written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Meditation — Mt. Geumgang〉 (September 2001). The essay reads the artist's Mt. Geumgang paintings together with the new sculptural series 〈Meditation〉 (eleven hanji figures) through the framework of "parallelism and paradox (para-doxa)." Mt. Geumgang is read as a paradoxical site "no longer reachable yet becoming reachable," and the essay traces how the difference between "drawing" and "scattering," between distant and close viewing, and between the "first-drawn layer" and "the later-scattered layer" — an "a and b" structure — produces what Plato called "alteration."
#Mt. Geumgang #명상 #Jingyeongsansu
"Spaces of Affirmation, Negation, and Recollection" — Kang Tae-seong review (1999)
강태성
A review by art critic Kang Tae-seong, written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Mt. Geumgang — Life Force〉 at Pyo Gallery (September 1999) and also published in the October 1999 EXHIBITION section of Monthly Art Magazine. The essay observes how the artist's expression shifted from a photograph-based conceptual idiom to representation rooted in direct observation following his two visits to Mt. Geumgang in 1998 and 1999, framing the change through the concept of "appropriate ornament (decoratif)" — rooted in the Latin 'decere' (to be fitting). The "scattered lines" the artist has developed since his 1989 woodblock work are read as a practice unfolding across three spatial registers — affirmation, negation, and recollection.
#Mt. Geumgang #생명력 #Jingyeongsansu
Press Coverage — 'Dream Journey to Geumgang: 300 Years of Mt. Geumgang Paintings' at Ilmin Museum of Art (1999)
Artist's Blog
A collection of newspaper coverage photographs documenting the 1999 group exhibition 'Dream Journey to Geumgang: 300 Years of Mt. Geumgang Paintings' at the Ilmin Museum of Art in July 1999. Shin Jang-sik participated as one of the contributing artists; his work 'Mt. Geumgang — Vitality' (1999, 728×227cm, acrylic and hanji on canvas) is mentioned in the coverage.
#몽유금강 #일민미술관 #금강산300년전 #단체전 #신문보도 #Mt. Geumgang #1999년7월 #금강산생명력 #1999
Munhwa Ilbo, "Mt. Geumgang Essay — Majestic Form, Canvas Falls Short" — Shin Jang-sik Artist Essay (1999)
신장식
An artist essay by Shin Jang-sik published in the Munhwa Ilbo culture section's 'Mt. Geumgang Essay' column. Reflecting on his first visit to Mt. Geumgang in November 1998 and the renewed thirst it triggered, the artist meditates on the union of content and form in painting, then describes his second visit on 16 April 1999 — encounters with Manmulsang, Okryudong, and Guryongpokpo in spring. Written shortly before his participation in the Ilmin Museum's "Dream Journey to Geumgang — 300 Years of Mt. Geumgang Paintings" exhibition, the essay traces his transition from five Mt. Geumgang solo shows held between 1993 and 1998 (without direct experience of the mountain) to working from on-site sketching. He closes with a wish to one day paint and present together with North Korean artists.
#작가기고 #작가에세이 #문화일보 #금강산에세이 #다시찾은금강산전 #일민미술관 #몽유금강 #Mt. Geumgang #1999
![[Interview] Western Painter Shin Jang-sik Presents Mt. Geumgang Sketches](/works/1998-018.jpg)
[Interview] Western Painter Shin Jang-sik Presents Mt. Geumgang Sketches
Munhwa Ilbo
Interview with Professor Shin Jang-sik, who visited Mt. Geumgang in person on the first tourism cruise on November 18, 1998. He shares his impressions of the landscape he had painted since 1995 in the Mt. Geumgang — Vitality series, and his plans for new work. The sketches from this trip became the 15 ink-on-paper works.
#Interview #Mt. Geumgang #사생화 #문화일보 #양성희 #금강산관광
Mt. Geumgang — Vitality (1998)
김유숙
Critical essay by art theorist Kim Yu-sook on Shin Jang-sik's 1998 solo exhibition 〈Mt. Geumgang — Vitality〉 at Hanwon Museum of Art. Traces the shift in his work — from traditional patterns (cheongsachorong, lotus motifs) to the 1992 〈Arirang — Vitality〉 turn beyond decorativeness toward direct vitality of subject matter, and from 1995 onward a reinterpretation of Eastern landscape (sansu) spirit through Mt. Geumgang. Analyzes his signature dripping technique, yin-yang chromatic simplification, grid lines and silkscreen Bodhisattva objects as contemporary landscape language.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #생명력 #산수 #뿌리기 #Dripping #한원미술관 #김유숙
Inside the 〈Meditation — 97.10.7〉 Exhibition at Hwarang Sagye (1997)
Artist's Blog
Five photographs from the artist's record of the 〈Meditation — 97.10.7〉 solo exhibition (November 12 – 22, 1997) at Hwarang Sagye, capturing the gallery interior during the show.
#명상 #화랑사계 #전시풍경 #개인전
The Korea Economic Daily — 'Embodying the Korean Spirit Reflected in Mt. Geumgang: Shin Jang-sik' (1997)
The Korea Economic Daily
A Korea Economic Daily article (March 24, 1997) titled 'Embodying the Korean Spirit Reflected in Mt. Geumgang: Shin Jang-sik' — covering Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 'Arirang — Mt. Geumgang' at Pyo Gallery (March 25 – April 7, 1997).
#한국경제신문 #신문보도 #표갤러리 #아리랑-금강산 #개인전 #민족정신 #1997
Artist Note by Shin Jang-sik — "Beyond the Sorrow-Soaked Arirang Pass: Toward a Lively Homecoming" (mid-to-late 1990s)
신장식
An artist note by the painter Shin Jang-sik. Beginning with personal memories of his childhood landscape — the Suseong stream, the front mountain, the village shrine, the cave, and his middle-school participation in the Silla Cultural Festival painting competition at Gyerim, Gyeongju — the essay frames the recovery of a 'homeland of the heart,' lost in Korea's rapid industrialization, as the core of his artistic work. Confronting the limits of imitating Western art, he proposes a return to Korean visual language rooted in folk culture (shamanism, geomancy, folk painting, the playful instruments of common people) as the foundation of his 〈Arirang〉 series — redefining Arirang not as lament (han) but as the will and hope of crossing the pass.
#작가노트 #Arirang #고향 #기층문화 #전통조형언어 #회고 #경주 #신라문화제 #1990s
Shin Jang-sik 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 (1996 INDECO Gallery) — Studio Process and Installation Views (1996)
Shin Jang-sik
A bundle of working materials from the 1996 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 solo at INDECO Gallery. The set comprises one studio shot of the large 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 (1996-004, now in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art collection) and three views of installation works from the same series shown in the gallery space. Together they show the artist's distinctive process — affixing hanji to canvas in tessellated planes, then drawing the mountain in acrylic over them — alongside the spatial sense of the 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 installation as it unfolded at INDECO Gallery.
#작업과정 #설치 #Mt. Geumgang #인데코갤러리
Shin Jang-sik's Paintings of Mt. Geumgang — Park Eun-soon review (1995)
박은순
A critical essay by art historian Park Eun-soon on Shin Jang-sik's Mt. Geumgang series (1993–1995). Examines how the artist — who had never visited Mt. Geumgang — discovered the mountain through colonial-era photo albums, contemporary video footage, and the Mt. Geumgang paintings of Joseon masters such as Gyeomjae Jeong Seon; explores the rocky-peak forms of the outer Geumgang Manmulcho, the symbolism of blue, cobalt and white, the texture of mulberry paper underlay and dripping technique, and the meaning of the grid frame with bolt-and-nut motifs.
#비평 #Mt. Geumgang #Jingyeongsansu #박은순 #관념산수 #만물초 #뿌리기
Press Coverage — Shin Jang-sik Solo Exhibition 'Mt. Geumgang' at Pyo Gallery (1995)
Artist's Blog
Five photographs of newspaper articles (February 1995) and one exhibition poster covering Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 'Mt. Geumgang' at Pyo Gallery (February 21 – March 3, 1995). The media include JoongAng Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo, and the Korea Times.
#신문보도 #중앙일보 #조선일보 #한국일보 #표갤러리 #Mt. Geumgang #개인전 #1995년2월 #1995
SPACE Magazine, January 1995 — Shin Jang-sik's Artist Essay "Drawing Mt. Geumgang" (1995)
SPACE Magazine
An artist essay 'Drawing Mt. Geumgang' contributed by Shin Jang-sik to the January 1995 issue of SPACE (Arts & Architecture & Environment) magazine. Following his earlier 'Arirang' series, the artist describes turning toward 'the vitality of nature' as a subject and arriving at Mt. Geumgang — drawing inspiration from the iconography of Jeong Seon, Korean folk paintings, and Kim Gyu-jin's Mt. Geumgang painting at Huijeongdang Hall (Changgyeonggung), while also addressing the nation's longing for a mountain made inaccessible by division. The essay is accompanied by an English translation by Park Hyun-Joo, and the magazine's cover features Shin's 〈Mt. Kumgang〉 (1994, paper and acrylic on canvas).
#공간 #SPACE #잡지기고 #작가에세이 #Mt. Geumgang #박현주번역 #표갤러리 #1994 #1995
Monthly Art Magazine, April 1994, "Reinterpreting Tradition, Expressing Life and Rhythm" — Seo Jeong-geol Critique (1994)
서정걸
A critical feature published in the April 1994 issue of Monthly Art Magazine (월간미술), in the 'Young Vision' column. Reporter Seo Jeong-geol visits Shin Jang-sik's studio (a collective studio at the boundary of Seoul and Seongnam) and identifies 'rhythm and vitality' as the core aesthetic propositions of the artist's work. The piece traces Shin's interest in traditional and folk motifs ('Arirang,' 'Cheongsachorong') back to his role as Assistant Art Director for the 1988 Seoul Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, and reads his woodblock printmaking — together with his splatter and string-collage techniques — as a search for new formal language rooted in Korean sensibility. It also notes the artist's expanding traditional vocabulary as it moves from folk objects toward natural subjects (pine, dandelion, wild chrysanthemum, cockscomb).
#월간미술 #잡지평론 #서정걸 #리듬 #생명력 #전통미 #청사초롱 #Arirang #88올림픽 #1994
Magazine Coverage — 'Painter Shin Jang-sik: Lanterns of Hope That Light the Darkness' (1994, estimated)
Artist's Blog
A magazine article titled 'Painter Shin Jang-sik: Lanterns of Hope That Light the Darkness.' The article discusses the artist's cheongsachorong (Korean traditional lantern) motif works.
#잡지보도 #청사초롱 #Arirang #Hope #1994
"Shin Jang-sik's Formal Method Concerning 'What Is Ours'" — Chung Young-mok review (1993)
정영목
A review by art critic Chung Young-mok (Professor at Sookmyung Women's University; Western art history, art criticism) written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 at Gallery Icon (April 30 – May 11, 1993). Drawing extensively on earlier essays by Park Shin-ui, Choi Tae-man, Kim Young-jae, Kang Sung-won, Seo Sung-rok, and Oh Byung-uk that had accompanied Shin's solo exhibitions at Toh Gallery (1989) and Gallery Icon (1992), Chung traces the artist's path away from the direct iconography and folk reference of the 〈Arirang〉 period toward an objectified handling of "what is ours." After citing 〈Arirang — Morning〉 (1988, with its frontal-symmetrical janggo motif) and the 〈Arirang〉 works of 1991–92 (using mosquito coils as a formal substitute) as instances of "neutralizing the thematic," he renames the 1993 〈Mt. Geumgang〉 series as 'images of vegetable life' — analyzing, in terms of form and structure, how Jeong Seon's 〈Geumgangsan-do〉, a Japanese-colonial-era 〈Geumgang Photo Album〉, and 1990s North Korean broadcast footage shaped Shin's landscape form.
#평론 #정영목 #갤러리이콘 #Mt. Geumgang #정선 #산수화
"On Lighting a Candle" — Artist Essay by Shin Jang-sik (1992)
신장식
A short painted essay "On Lighting a Candle" contributed by Shin Jang-sik to a 1992 newspaper culture page (publication unconfirmed) on 12 August 1992. The piece reflects on the artist's painterly stance — 'like the start of a ritual, let us light a candle and brighten our hearts' — published with the artist's portrait and reproductions of two works from the 〈Arirang-Prayer〉 series.
#작가에세이 #그림에세이 #신문기고 #Arirang #판화 #Candle #1992
documenta IX — 'Encounter with Others' (Kassel, Germany, 1992)
Artist's Blog
Records of works submitted to the 9th documenta (Kassel, Germany, 1992) and the exhibition site. 'Encounter with Others' (Begegnung mit den Anderen) was a Korean group show staged at the K-18 venue and Hann. Münden. The two exhibited works were 〈Arirang-Happy Day〉 (1991, 130×194cm) and 〈Arirang-Prayer〉 (1992, 300호).
#전시기록 #도큐멘타 #documenta #카셀 #독일 #Arirang #1992
"The Virtues of Tradition and Historicity" — Seo Sung-rok review (1992)
서성록
A review by art critic Seo Sung-rok written for Shin Jang-sik's solo exhibition at Gallery Icon (Reopening Exhibition, May 12–24, 1992). Within the trajectory from his 1989 Toh Gallery show and 1991 Shinsegae Gallery show, the review traces how the artist redeploys hanji, the obangsaek colors, and folk iconographies — cheongsa-choreong lanterns, cockscombs, the taegeuk, Buddhist flame patterns, old coins, mosquito coils — as indicators of a Korean cosmology. The large-scale Gwanghwamun-Government-General composition is read as a visualization of the artist's historical consciousness around "the lost national fortune," while the review identifies clarity and analytical precision as strengths and notes the need for a more folkloric filter in formal device as a future task.
#평론 #서성록 #갤러리이콘 #Arirang
Shin Jang-sik Print Exhibition 〈Arirang〉 Essay — Anonymous (1992)
Artist's Blog
A short essay written for the 1992 touring print exhibition that travelled across Gallery 21, Sangmundang, and Gallery Ikon. The author is presumed unknown — no name appears in the surviving text. The piece reads the artist's practice through the concepts of "rhythm" and "vital force," quoting the artist's own statement that locating where one's breath meets the rhythm of materials is his research task — so that, when contrivance is set aside, nature's vital force and the artist's emotion emerge of their own.
#평론 #도록 #Arirang #판화 #리듬 #생명력 #작자미상
Magazine Covers Featuring Shin Jang-sik's Works (1991-1993)
Artist's Blog
A compilation of five magazine covers from June 1991 through June 1993 that featured Shin Jang-sik's paintings — Wolgan Misool (Monthly Art), Cho Heung News (Cho Heung Bank), Hyundai Department Store, Kumho Culture Monthly, and Book & Life. The span of media types (art journal, bank newsletter, department-store magazine, corporate cultural review, general-readership monthly) illustrates the breadth of the artist's reception across Korean publishing in the early 1990s. The use of 〈Where Do Our Hearts Go?〉 (1992) and 〈Vitality〉 (1992) is identified on the covers.
#잡지표지 #작품활용 #미술잡지 #사보 #월간미술 #조흥소식 #현대백화점 #금호문화 #책과인생 #1991 #1992 #1993
〈Decorative Painting and the Pursuit of Tradition〉 — Oh Byung-uk review (1991)
오병욱
A review by art critic Oh Byung-uk, written for the Shinsegae Gallery 〈Arirang〉 exhibition (March 1991) and also published in Wolgan Misool (Monthly Art) 1991. Reading Shin Jang-sik's painting as 'decorative,' it traces where pure painting meets the emotional fabric of Korean culture. After surveying the trajectory of Western painting from the Goncourt brothers through Neo-impressionism, Cubism, and abstraction — and locating decorativeness as the essential property of twentieth-century pure painting — Oh frames the artist's participation in the 1988 Seoul Olympics art team as the decisive turning point toward pure painting, and reads the 〈Arirang〉 series as a unified theme expressing joy rather than sorrow, the challenge of the future rather than hardship.
#평론 #오병욱 #Arirang #신세계미술관 #월간미술
1st Sapporo International Contemporary Print Biennale Catalogue — Shin Jang-sik's 〈Arirang-Prayer II〉, Sponsors' Prize (1991)
Artist's Blog
A page from the 1st Sapporo International Contemporary Print Biennale catalogue (p. 24, 1991) featuring Shin Jang-sik's 〈Arirang-Prayer II〉, the Sponsors' Prize (レナウン 賞, sponsored by Renown Incorporated) winning work, with Japanese and English biographies — listing the 2nd Seoul International Miniature Print Exhibition (1982), the 8th Korea National Art Exhibition Grand Prize (1989), and the 4th Wakayama Print Biennale prize (1991).
#삿포로비엔날레 #판화비엔날레 #후원자상 #일본 #Arirang #판화 #1991
Choi Tae-man Critique in 'Field of Creation' Magazine (1990)
최태만
A critique by art critic Choi Tae-man published in 1990 in the magazine 'Field of Creation' (창작의 현장). Focusing on Shin Jang-sik's woodblock print series 'Arirang,' the essay discusses the optimistic and progressive sentiment rooted in Korean folk tradition, the meaning of the artist's choice of woodblock as medium, and a dialectical attitude toward overcoming the contradictions of reality. The artist's blog preserves photographs of the printed magazine article alongside two photographs of the artist's print-making process.
#창작의현장 #잡지평론 #최태만 #Arirang #판화 #목판 #평론 #1990
Hankyoreh Press Coverage — 'Expressing Distinctive Vitality through the Arirang Theme' (1989)
The Hankyoreh
A Hankyoreh newspaper article (August 25, 1989) covering Shin Jang-sik's work — titled 'Expressing Distinctive Vitality through the Arirang Theme.'
#한겨레 #신문보도 #Arirang #생명력 #1989
Artist Note — Shin Jang-sik "Arirang" Print Exhibition (1989)
Shin Jang-sik
Artist note for the 〈Arirang〉 series. Inspired by the cheongsachorong (blue-and-red lanterns) procession at the 1988 Seoul Olympics closing ceremony. Reinterprets Dankook University Museum lanterns with a soyeolbeop (vanishing-block) multi-color woodblock technique. The series emphasizes 'will and hope crossing the Arirang pass' rather than the lament of 'han'.
#작가노트 #Arirang #판화 #목판 #청사초롱 #소멸법 #올림픽
Arirang: Self-Affirmation and Generosity (1989)
최태만
Critical essay by art critic Choi Taeman on Shin Jang-sik's 1989 〈Arirang〉 print exhibition. Argues that Arirang represents not passive lament ('han') but a future-oriented consciousness overcoming contradictions of reality, and analyzes how Shin reinterprets traditional symbols — cheongsachorong lanterns, candles, taegeuk — through his optimistic worldview, especially via the soyeolbeop (vanishing-block) woodblock technique.
#비평 #Arirang #판화 #목판 #소멸법 #최태만 #긍정적세계관
Daily Sports, "Today's Perspective: A Search for Tradition" — Park Shin-eui Critique (1989)
박신의
A critique by art critic Park Shin-eui published in the daily newspaper Ilgan Sports (Daily Sports) on 22 June 1989, in the "Notable Works of the Month" column. Reviewing Shin Jang-sik's May 1989 solo exhibition 〈Arirang〉 at Toh Gallery, the essay examines the artist's aesthetic search for tradition — analyzing the principle of contracting and emanating vitality in 〈Arirang-Morning〉 and the playful reconciliation of opposites in 〈Arirang-Unity〉, while noting both Shin's achievements and the limits of his interpretive partiality toward tradition. The same newspaper page also carried the selection note (panel: Park Yong-sook, Yun Bum-mo, Park Shin-eui) and an interview with the artist by reporter Lee Nam — both preserved in the body text as printed.
#일간스포츠 #박신의 #신문평론 #Arirang #평론 #1989
Der Tagesspiegel, "Die Koreaner kommen" — Shin Jang-sik's First Berlin Solo Exhibition Coverage (1989)
Der Tagesspiegel
A review published in the Feuilleton (culture) section of the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel on 17 January 1989. The article covers the simultaneous solo exhibitions of three Korean artists — Shin Jang-sik, Sung-Hwan Bae, and Sang-Bong Lee — at Galerie Roho (Sesenheimer Straße 19, Berlin), running through 23 January 1989. The critic reads Shin Jang-sik's flag- and mask-images on fibrous Korean paper as a reinterpretation of folkloric origins, and highlights a shared 'courage of empty surface' and 'utmost economy of means' across the three painters. Coming shortly after the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the piece marks a moment when Berlin's art scene actively expanded its exchange with Korean art — and stands as a record of Shin Jang-sik's first overseas solo exhibition.
#베를린 #독일 #첫해외전시 #갤러리로호 #한국3인전 #신문평론 #DerTagesspiegel #판화 #1989
Magazine Coverage — 'Expressing the Universality of Our Own': Shin Jang-sik (1989)
Artist's Blog
A 1989 magazine article titled 'Expressing the Universality of Our Own' — covering Shin Jang-sik's artistic world and his work with Korean motifs. The article discusses 〈Arirang -Soul〉 and 〈Arirang-Unity〉.
#잡지보도 #우리것 #보편성 #한국적모티프 #1989
Grand Prize, Printmaking Division — 〈Arirang-Happy Day V〉, 8th Korea National Art Exhibition — Korean Press Coverage of Shin Jang-sik (1989)
Artist's Blog
A compilation of Korean newspaper coverage on Shin Jang-sik's 〈Arirang-Happy Day V〉, the Grand Prize winner of the printmaking division at the 8th Korea National Art Exhibition (1989). The Chosun Ilbo featured all four grand-prize-winning works (Western painting, Korean painting, sculpture, printmaking) on a single page under the heading 'Grand Prize Works on Paper'; three other newspapers center on the artist's interview, addressing his role as Assistant Art Director for the 1988 Seoul Olympics opening/closing ceremonies, the iconography of the cheongsachorong lantern, and his vision of Arirang as a 'symbol of resilience and hope, not lament.'
#대한민국미술대전 #대상 #신문보도모음 #조선일보 #Arirang #판화 #88올림픽 #청사초롱 #1989
"Searching for the Pulse of Tradition" — Choi Tae-man Critique (1989)
최태만
A 1989 critical essay by art critic Choi Tae-man on Shin Jang-sik. Divided into two sections — "The Question of Tradition in Korean Art" and "The Possibilities and Limits of Searching for Tradition" — the essay traces how Shin's role on the art team for the 1988 Seoul Olympics opening and closing ceremonies led him into a sustained exploration of tradition. It analyzes the iconography of 〈Arirang — Morning〉(its five directional colors, flame-tooth motif, and Goguryeo mural references), Shin's use of flag forms drawn from agricultural and military traditions, and his deployment of folk-painting motifs (taegeuk, gogok, bangsangsi mask). Choi also identifies limits in Shin's diagrammatic and explanatory tendencies and the open question of how such motifs hold persuasive power within industrial society.
#평론 #최태만 #전통 #깃발 #민화 #오방색 #화염각 #88올림픽 #Arirang #1989