Kyungmi Shin, On Still Life,

Various Small Fires, Dallas | February 8 - March 22, 2025

In these works, Shin examines the role of still life painting in shaping cultural exchange and its ability to expose the colonial, economic, and geographic relationships that have influenced the aesthetics of Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Shin presents her Korean heritage twofold: through mining her family’s photographic archive and by presenting Korean Chaekgeori paintings, an 18th and 19th century still life practice that features imported objects from the West and China. She opposes the Chaekgeori paintings with Dutch still lifes, the European standard of excellence that often highlights imported Chinese porcelain objects. Line paintings of European Chinoiserie veil the myriad imagery of Shin’s compositions, adding yet another layer reflecting the movement of ideas across continents and oceans. 

Shin’s engagement with opacity is a powerful tool that suggests fluid demarcations of time and place. This is expertly showcased in the exhibition’s largest work, many stories (2025): a Sepia tone photograph depicting a group of men fades behind a grid of graphic Chaekgeori paintings while a silver line painting of Chinoiserie-style branches and birds floats to the front of the work’s picture plane. On Still Life also exhibits the artist’s first tondo paintings, layering Dutch still life paintings of citrus in porcelain bowls with the graphic line paintings of Korean still lifes. These circular compositions further emphasize the portal-like nature of Shin’s paintings, transporting viewers into realms where past and present converge.