02/05/2025
2024 Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant Recipient Spotlight:
Minshik Shin
“Writings of my artistic wishes”, 2023
Indian ink, acrylic, acrylic pen, oil, collage, fiber paper, rice paper, on canvas
60 x 75 inches
Minshik Shin is an immigrant artist based in Queens, New York. Shin earned a BFA in Korean painting from Seoul National University and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. Shin is currently creating socially engaged visual arts and community activities through several projects involving members of the local community, in addition to other creative endeavors. Shin is the recipient of a number of grants and fellowships and has participated in numerous exhibitions and projects, including “Queens Seen” Queens Rising, Culture Lab LIC, NY (2023); Shared Dialogue, Shared Space, 601Artspace with Korea Art Forum (2022); the DMZ PROJECT at Heyri Art Village in South Korea; and Queens International 2004 at the Queens Museum.
“As a Korean-American immigrant artist navigating displacement, I explore the themes of family, identity, and resilience in my art. After graduate school (2003), my work began with portrait drawings and abstract expressions based on nature. My portraits focused on satirical and topical paintings, sculptures, and experiential mediums through a synthesis of society, s*x, and commercial advertising. These topics began my journey into mixed media. I continued to work on portraits of myself, my family, and immigrant families within my communities. Based on the subject’s occupation, religion, and family relationships, I expressed the process of settling into life in the United States as immigrants. My oil painting works use mixed media and materials with various textures to create three-dimensional portraits.”
