High School Student Shin Displaying 50 Paintings

1990. 08. 21 「KOREA TIMES」

Shin Se-won, 17, will exhibit his paintings at the Kyongin Gallery from today through Aug. 27- the first solo show in Seoul in resent years by a high-school student.

Lee Kyum-hong, president of the gallery and “Fine Art World” monthly, said he was sponsoring Shin’s one-person exhibition “to give due appraisal of his gifts and present to Korean artist a precious chance to get a glimpse into Shin’s artistic world.”

Lee speaks highly of Shin. “His artworks are of supreme quality. Shin’s lofty spiritualism and unique view of the the world are most difficult to explain in a few words.”

That Shin is an artistic prodigy was demonstrated from his primary school days. At the age of eight, Shin captured the Gold Prize at the Children’s Art contest, sponsored by the Hankook Ilbo daily. Since then, he has swept nearly all major art competitions.

As first year middle school student, Shin won the Grand Prize at competition in 1986. Winning it entitled him to study in the United States. He is attending Georgetown Preparatory School in Washington, D.C. 

Kin Nam-su, art critic, said, “A transcendentalistic quality is characteristic of Shin’s paintings. He translates the free play of his imagination into his paintings in such a way as to cut through to the heart of the arts. This is a rare quality to be found in a young artist, and it evokes much admiration and provides fresh impact.

“His method of composing objects is never artificial or intentional, but symbolic and also it seems, at times, to be abstract even in the pieces which depict concrete objects.”

On display are some 50 oils which were painted in the last two years. Representing his oils is a piece titled “Illusory Image,” 52x45cm, which was painted early this year and portrays a naked woman hugging a skeleton. “I did this painting to warn people pursuing only the pleasures of the flesh,” explains the young artist.

Another eye-catching piece is “Fighting Bull” which illustrates in rough brushstrokes an intrepid, angry bull, shadowed on water, water, with spectator painted abstractly. Another “Fighting Bull” also points to the surrealistic painting style in fantastic colors.

Also striking deep are “Roaring” which depicts a roaring wolf. “The Snow Mountain” which created an imagery of moving ice in the Arctic, “Antenna on Earth,” “Third Dimension,” and “Fetishism.”

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