Shin InSoo

As with many contemporary artists working in Korea, Shin Insoo uses a single word as an ongoing title. In her case, the word is Respiration. The title may also function as a theme or a concept, which are not necessarily the same. Whereas a theme suggests a surface phenomenon in terms of how the artist’s word may appear, a concept is considered more layered, more in-depth and profound, as it moves into deeper strata of feeling and associations of thought. Even so, a concept needs to make contact with materials and processes. It is realized over time as variations of form begin to evolve. In breathe in relation to one another, particularly if the materials are coming the work of Shin, there are many variations as to how material is employed in relation to her concept. Respiration is about the process of how materials from opposite ends of nature. For example, iron comes from beneath the ground, while organic Dak paper comes from above ground, from mulberry trees. Shin Insoo goes for the concept more than the theme. Her interests extend between the simple telling of something already known into the realm of the unknown universe where opposites merge as a single force, a presence that hovers in reality, as explained in the Tao te Ching. Earth and sky exist paradoxically in relation to one another, like the role of the human in relation to nature, or like Shin’s materials, iron and Dak. Her materials are made organically from what is found beneath and above the earth. As opposites, they are unique manifestations of nature, yet they
are inextricably bound to one another.