Gallery Korea is pleased to present Mr. Jong-shik Shin's solo exhibition, hik Shin. Mr. Shin, an artist and professor from S. Korea, is known r his Gallery Korea is pleased to present Mr. Jong-shik Shin's solo exhibition, Jong-shik Shin. Mr. Shin, an artist and professor from S. Korea, is known for his symbolic and allegorical space of works. Through his recent works in the exhibition, people can enjoy the complete narrative his works convey.mbolic and allegorical space of works. Through his recent works in the exhibitionrks convey.

Mr. Il Lee, an art critic from S. Korea, says that, through Mr. Shin's unique "symbolic space of form and symbols," his works freely come and go between conscious and unconscious space. Rooted in ontological questions and philosophical inquiries, the symbolic spaces of his works represent his own history and mythology. At the same time, the works expand their meaning to mysterious spaces, asking about the beholders' own presence.

Gallery Korea curator Jin Yong Chung writes in his introductory essay:

"Just as a fossil connects us to its contemporaneous contexts, transcending time and space, allegorical symbols dispersed throughout Mr. Shin's work are more than representations of forms themselves. Symbols out of their own context float on canvas, becoming vestiges of a being, probably Mr. Shin himself. He seems to entrust the meaning of his work and his world to viewers after his creation, just as viewers imagine abundant meanings as they look at a fossil in a showcase¢®|

In his recent works, he seems to build up the traces of being that he searches for in his earlier pieces. On the wood panel, which can represent maternal land, he starts, literally, to construct answers for his fundamental questions. His constructions can be just like a wall or a column in the ruins of ancient cities. He constructs his own history and mythology in his works, which could become surviving vestiges."

The exhibition Jong-shik Shin has three parts: oil paintings containing sporadic symbols with intense colors; symbols in relief forms, which are made from chopped and pressed paper, wafting on wood panels painted monotone colors; and forms made from pieces of paper perpendicularly glued to wood panels and painted with acrylic or lithograph ink.

An opening reception will be held on Wednesday, October 20, from 6 - 8 pm, with the artist present. Please contact curator Jin Yong Chung for further information at (212) 759-9550 or nyarts@koreanculture.org.