Growing up on the flower-farm of his parents, Shin’s childhood was full of colors and impressions of nature. The circle of life, the constant flow of change, of growth and transitoriness, of color and light, that he experienced, deeply influenced his perception and his work.

For him, everything is connected.

And everything is constantly changing.

“GLASS, while pivotal in my work, is merely the vessel through which my art is created. By reflecting and refracting light, my glass shapes generate something new and unique. The resulting patterns never stay the same. They emerge by coincidence and they are constantly changing depending on where the light falls and where the observer stands.”

In his broken glass works, Bongchull Shin creates antagonistic associations. Poetic statements like “Love”, “Faith” or “Hope” consist of letters, made out of glass shards. Poetic, beautiful and dangerous at the same time, they reflect the contradictory character and ambiguity of existence in a social and spiritual sense.

“The driving force behind my series BROKEN GLASS is my interest in language. I write statements and quotations out of glass sherds, creating conflict between form and meaning. Through this conflict, the language gains new meaning and grows.”