"Sixty Years with Clay: Shin Sangho Retrospective Highlights a Life of Innovation and Change"

"Shin Sangho: Infinite Variations" Opens at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon
On View Until March 29 Next Year
Over 90 Works and 70 Archival Materials on Display

"There are people who dedicate their entire lives to a single pursuit, but I am not that kind of person. I am always rebellious, always changing, always seeking something new. My sixty years with clay have been a journey of learning through action and self-transformation."

On the morning of November 26, at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Shin Sangho, a pioneer of contemporary Korean ceramics, shared these words with reporters. Shin Sangho is a leading ceramic artist who has shaped Korean ceramics by building his own unique artistic world with clay, responding to the changes in society and art throughout modern Korean history. This exhibition presents the diverse realm of clay art that he has expanded since entering the path of traditional ceramics in the 1960s in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, where he operated a wood-fired kiln. Driven by changing times and his own artistic curiosity, he has continually pushed artistic boundaries. Under the exhibition title "Infinite Variations," more than 90 works that cross the boundaries of traditional ceramics, sculpture, painting, and architecture, along with over 70 archival materials, are on display.

Part 1, "Clay: From Material to Narrative," highlights Shin Sangho's world of traditional ceramics from the 1960s to the 1990s. In 1965, the same year he entered the Department of Crafts at Hongik University, he acquired a kiln in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, and began producing traditional ceramics. After the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan in 1965, interest in and demand for Korean traditional ceramics grew in Japan, and traditional ceramics became a key export product. During this period, Shin stood out by participating in exhibitions in Japan alongside other ceramic artisans from Icheon.

Rather than blindly following tradition, he regarded it as something to be freely reinterpreted. He was the first in Korea to introduce a gas kiln from Japan, producing finely designed tableware and collaborating with painters to pursue the "modernization of tradition." Although he was criticized at the time for abandoning tradition, he was unfazed. He explained, "The success rate of traditional wood-fired kilns was only 5 to 10 percent, while gas kilns had a success rate close to 95 percent. Some called me a heretic for abandoning tradition, but now everyone uses gas kilns. Bringing in science at that time was the turning point."

Part 2, "The Age of Ceramic Sculpture," features Shin Sangho's ceramic sculptures, or "dojo," which he began showcasing in 1986. During his time as an exchange professor at Central Connecticut State University in 1984, he encountered American abstract expressionist ceramics. Pursuing an art form that combined sculptural and painterly elements, he presented the "Dream" series (1990-1995). To promote the internationalization of Korean ceramics, he also organized the "International Ceramics Workshop" at his studio, Bugok Dobang, as part of the cultural events for the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Part 3, "Painting with Fire," sheds light on the experimental nature of Shin Sangho's architectural ceramics since 2001, through more than 600 ceramic tiles and architectural archives. He has experimented with combining ceramics and architecture, undertaking large-scale exterior wall projects using ceramic tiles. From the "Millennium Tide" at Seoul's Central City Express Bus Terminal to the Clayarch Gimhae Museum of Art, the Kumho Asiana headquarters (now the Concordian Building), and Seocho Samsung Town, all "Baked Painting" ceramic tile exteriors were created by his hand. In particular, the exterior tile decorations of the Kumho Asiana headquarters have won numerous architectural awards for their aesthetic value. He remarked, "I originally wanted to build it even higher, but at the time, the architects lacked experience, so we compromised at four stories. Since then, no similar works by younger artists have emerged. I hope they do not focus only on survival but also take on new challenges."

Part 4, "Dialogue with Objects," introduces his creative activities and collection of old objects from other cultures, which began in the 1990s. The artist, also well known as a collector, has recreated his studio environment in the exhibition, allowing visitors to glimpse the intimate moments when inspiration strikes and the starting points of his creative process.

Part 5, "The End of Clay, The Beginning of Clay," focuses on his ceramic paintings since 2017, in which he attaches clay boards to metal panels and applies a variety of colors. Starting with the idea of "painting with clay," works such as "Water of Life" (2017) and the "Apocalypse" series (2017-) blend the organic patterns of clay with layered colors, capturing the material depth of ceramics in a two-dimensional painting.

As part of the related programs, visitors can create their own imaginary animals as ceramic sculptures. The program is designed to provide an immersive experience of the tactile qualities of clay, imagination, playfulness, and the transformative process by fire, both as an aesthetic object and as a sculptural material.

Shin Sangho expressed his hope that this exhibition would change public perceptions of ceramics. He said, "It is true that ceramics is a challenging field, but clay is an inexhaustible and truly valuable resource. The difficulties and hardships may, in fact, be opportunities. In a harsh world, clay can be a valuable educational tool. With just a bit of a challenging spirit, I believe the possibilities of clay are limitless."

Kim Sunghee, Director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, commented, "This exhibition comprehensively highlights the sixty-year career of a seminal figure who began operating a wood-fired kiln in Icheon as a teenager, introduced the first gas kiln in Korea, and led major exterior wall projects such as the Central City building in Gangnam. We hope this will serve as an opportunity to further expand the horizons of contemporary Korean ceramic art, and we ask for your warm attention and support."