NEW YORK, NY.- Sperone Westwater now showing Kyungmi Shin’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, “Monsters, Vases and the Priest,” with new paintings inspired by mythology and created during her 2023 American Academy in Rome residency.

The source for her heroic figures and central characters are vintage photographs from Shin’s own family album, as well as historic photographs of the Asian diaspora. “This kind of depiction of Asian character had been absent in the mainstream Western media and narratives, and I am actively seeking this alternative depiction of Asian persons,” says Shin. Layered over the photographic images, which are transferred onto gessoed wood panel, Shin paints chinoiserie landscapes and tapestries, fictional and fantastical depictions of Asian lands. “During my time in Rome, I began to think deeper about the how mythologies are created,” says Shin. “Being in the ancient city where the empire-building and colonization began and where the active building of mythology as a political tool was utilized, the intermixing of reality and fiction in historical and mythological narrative was rampant.” On top of the photographs and the chinoiserie and colonial depictions of Asia, Shin paints mythological creatures from Korean folk and shamanistic stories, as well as monsters and creatures from Christian narratives.

On the second floor, Shin shows works from her “Invisible Women” series representing Asian women, myth and fantasy. “I was exploring the real Asian female representation juxtaposed against the fantastical depictions of female bodies, the largely chinoiserie aesthetic of the rococo and the grotesque and curious mythological creatures from Western and Eastern mythologies,” says Shin. “I am actively using these complicated historical paintings to juxtapose against the photographs of the real Asians to challenge and play off of each other.” In The Invisible Woman #7, three icons—Leigong (the god of thunder from Chinese mythology), an American bald eagle and birds in a nineteenth century chinoiserie wallpaper pattern—collide as a Chinese woman from a found 1930s photograph looks on.

Kyungmi Shin was born in South Korea (1963) and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She received an MFA from the University of California, Berkeley (1995). Utilizing painting, sculpture and photography, Shin explores various histories, identities and migrations by questioning colonial, capitalist and religious global expansion and its effect. Shin has presented works at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (2023); Various Small Fires (2023; 2021-22); Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles (2022); Galerie Marguo, Paris (2022); Orange County Museum of Art, CA (2020-21); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2021); Japanese American National Art Museum, Los Angeles (2008-09); Torrance Art Museum, CA (2008); The Berkeley Art Museum, CA (2007); and Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2000). Shin has received numerous grants including California Community Foundation Grant, City of Los Angeles Master Artist Grant (COLA), Durfee Grant and Pasadena City Individual Artist Fellowship. Her work is part of the permanent collections at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, J. Paul Getty Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She has completed over 20 public artworks, and her most recent public video sculpture was installed at the Netflix headquarters in Hollywood, CA (2018). Shin is represented by Various Small Fires, Los Angeles / Dallas / Seoul.

Kyungmi Shin: Monsters, Vases and the Priest
5 January – 24 February 2024
Opening Reception: 5 January, 5–7pm