Pratt Institute

Personal URL

Education

BFA Pratt Institute
MS Pratt Institute

Biography

Jean Shin is nationally recognized for her monumental installations that transform everyday objects into elegant expressions of identity and community.  For each project, she amasses vast collections of a particular inventory—prescription pill bottles, sports trophies, sweaters—which are often sourced through donations from individuals in a participating community.  Through this social exchange, these artifacts then become the materials for her conceptually rich sculptures, videos and site-specific installations.  Distinguished by a collaborative, labor-intensive process and public engagement, Shin’s arresting works reflect individuals’ personal lives as well as collective experiences.

Her work has been widely exhibited in major national and international museums, including solo exhibitions at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (2010), Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC (2009), the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia (2006), and The Museum of Modern Art in New York (2004).

Other venues have been the New Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Asia Society and Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, Sculpture Center and Socrates Sculpture Park.  Site-specific permanent installations have been commissioned by the US General Services Administration Art in Architecture Award, New York City’s Percent for the Arts and MTA Art for Transit.  She has received numerous awards, including the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Architecture/Environmental Structures (2008) and Sculpture (2003), Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2007), and Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Art Award (2001).  Her works have been featured in numerous publications, including Frieze Art, Flash Art, Tema Celeste, Art in America, Sculpture Magazine, Artnews, and The New York Times.