Meekyoung Shin
b. 1967, South Korea
Meekyoung Shin studied sculpture at Seoul National University and then the Slade School of Fine Arts in London. In these two cities, she worked to faithfully reproduce historical relics from the peak of classical statuary, masterful Chinese ceramic works and groups of Buddhas. Ancient Greek sculpture has served as a perennial reference for sculptors in the Western world. These pieces are part of our universal cultural heritage, the legacy of an artistic past handed down to us from generations of artists and essential elements from another time and different cultures. Shin does not recreate them in marble or stone, but by moulding them with a material that is translucent, malleable, banal, fragile and ephemeral. This material lends itself to this play on shapes, polychrome and perfect proportions: soap. A slight aroma emanates from it.
You might wonder, what common thread connects soap and Ancient Greek statuary or ancient vases from the Ming Dynasty? Using this material, Meekyoung Shin confronts antiquity and modernity in an elegant museum setting, which surrounds the item with a precious halo and adds value to it. The artist engages in a dialogue once more and represents permanence with a material that is not itself permanent, bringing together seemingly irreconcilable concepts. In the Western world, the aesthetic notion of permanence is essential; conversely, in the East, traditional aesthetic value lies in what is ephemeral. Shin uses this duality – which is always present in her sculptures and is, in itself, nothing more than an affirmation of an interrogation or a contradiction – to express herself. The raw virtuosity of the work is accompanied by reflection and a subtle critical position. We question the concept of culture, which is a reflection of a polymorphous world. What happens when two different cultures come together? Can we really understand this? Is it possible to transpose them?
Shin started to reflect on this in 1996, when she moved to London and began to feel as though she belonged to two different worlds and was understood by neither of them. As a result, the artist strives to highlight the process of transferring shapes and the loss of meaning from iconography over time, space or through intercultural exchanges. The artwork is a hybrid object: a physical item, of course, but also an intangible whole, a collection of values, meanings and history that arose in a socioeconomic, historical, philosophical and psychological context that has shaped the artist. Does a piece withstand the challenge of being displaced from one culture to another, or from one time period to another? Can it be understood from a contemporary point of view? Isn’t the history of art actually a series of misunderstandings?
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Meekyoung Shin studied sculpture at Seoul National University and then the Slade School of Fine Arts in London. In these two cities, she worked to faithfully reproduce historical relics from the peak of classical statuary, masterful Chinese ceramic works and groups of Buddhas. Ancient Greek sculpture has served as a perennial reference for sculptors in the Western world. These pieces are part of our universal cultural heritage, the legacy of an artistic past handed down to us from generations of artists and essential elements from another time and different cultures. Shin does not recreate them in marble or stone, but by moulding them with a material that is translucent, malleable, banal, fragile and ephemeral. This material lends itself to this play on shapes, polychrome and perfect proportions: soap. A slight aroma emanates from it.
You might wonder, what common thread connects soap and Ancient Greek statuary or ancient vases from the Ming Dynasty? Using this material, Meekyoung Shin confronts antiquity and modernity in an elegant museum setting, which surrounds the item with a precious halo and adds value to it. The artist engages in a dialogue once more and represents permanence with a material that is not itself permanent, bringing together seemingly irreconcilable concepts. In the Western world, the aesthetic notion of permanence is essential; conversely, in the East, traditional aesthetic value lies in what is ephemeral. Shin uses this duality – which is always present in her sculptures and is, in itself, nothing more than an affirmation of an interrogation or a contradiction – to express herself. The raw virtuosity of the work is accompanied by reflection and a subtle critical position. We question the concept of culture, which is a reflection of a polymorphous world. What happens when two different cultures come together? Can we really understand this? Is it possible to transpose them?
Shin started to reflect on this in 1996, when she moved to London and began to feel as though she belonged to two different worlds and was understood by neither of them. As a result, the artist strives to highlight the process of transferring shapes and the loss of meaning from iconography over time, space or through intercultural exchanges. The artwork is a hybrid object: a physical item, of course, but also an intangible whole, a collection of values, meanings and history that arose in a socioeconomic, historical, philosophical and psychological context that has shaped the artist. Does a piece withstand the challenge of being displaced from one culture to another, or from one time period to another? Can it be understood from a contemporary point of view? Isn’t the history of art actually a series of misunderstandings?
Read more...
You might wonder, what common thread connects soap and Ancient Greek statuary or ancient vases from the Ming Dynasty? Using this material, Meekyoung Shin confronts antiquity and modernity in an elegant museum setting, which surrounds the item with a precious halo and adds value to it. The artist engages in a dialogue once more and represents permanence with a material that is not itself permanent, bringing together seemingly irreconcilable concepts. In the Western world, the aesthetic notion of permanence is essential; conversely, in the East, traditional aesthetic value lies in what is ephemeral. Shin uses this duality – which is always present in her sculptures and is, in itself, nothing more than an affirmation of an interrogation or a contradiction – to express herself. The raw virtuosity of the work is accompanied by reflection and a subtle critical position. We question the concept of culture, which is a reflection of a polymorphous world. What happens when two different cultures come together? Can we really understand this? Is it possible to transpose them?
Shin started to reflect on this in 1996, when she moved to London and began to feel as though she belonged to two different worlds and was understood by neither of them. As a result, the artist strives to highlight the process of transferring shapes and the loss of meaning from iconography over time, space or through intercultural exchanges. The artwork is a hybrid object: a physical item, of course, but also an intangible whole, a collection of values, meanings and history that arose in a socioeconomic, historical, philosophical and psychological context that has shaped the artist. Does a piece withstand the challenge of being displaced from one culture to another, or from one time period to another? Can it be understood from a contemporary point of view? Isn’t the history of art actually a series of misunderstandings?
