〈Shin Jang-sik Paints Mt. Geumgang〉 Retrospective

This retrospective marks the retirement of Professor Shin Jang-sik, who served on the faculty of the College of Fine Arts at Kookmin University from the founding of its College of Arts in 1998 onward. The exhibition gathers his representative works — from the early pieces of the 1980s through the Mt. Seorak real-view paintings produced intensively during and after the pandemic period.

As a member of the art-direction team for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Shin discovered the meaning and value of traditional Korean art and devoted himself to developing it into an independent formal language. He also turned to woodblock printing, producing many prints including 〈Arirang — Joyful Day〉, which won the Grand Prize at the 1989 Korea National Art Exhibition.

He began painting Mt. Geumgang in 1993, and after Mt. Geumgang tours opened in 1998, he traveled there more than ten times, capturing the scenery of not only Oegeumgang (Outer Mt. Geumgang) but also Naegeumgang (Inner Mt. Geumgang) in his own distinctive idiom. Inheriting the tradition of jingyeong sansu (true-view landscape painting) and rendering the vast scenery of Mt. Geumgang in vivid colors to make visible the dream of unification and peace — these efforts made him the 'painter of Mt. Geumgang.' His 〈Mt. Geumgang from Sangpaldam〉 (2001) was hung on the wall of the second-floor meeting room at Peace House during the 2018 inter-Korean summit, drawing national and international attention. Faithful to real scenery yet pioneering his own material technique, his landscapes resonate with contemporary aesthetic consciousness and can be appraised as opening up real-view landscape painting for the 21st century.

From Arirang through Mt. Geumgang, the meeting with contemplative practice and Buddhist philosophy, and on to the cosmos — his works hold the affirmation of life and the hope toward which it converges. The candle flames that appear in his works symbolize this hope.