On June 28, 2023, Praise Shadows Art Gallery presented an online conversation between artist Jean Shin and curator Eva Respini on the occasion of Shin's solo exhibition, Second Skin, on view June 16 through July 23, 2023.
This event marked the nearly 20 year anniversary of their professional relationship, as Respini was the curator of Shin's first museum exhibition titled Projects 81, which opened at MoMA QNS in June of 2004. The conversation focused on the two extraordinary and celebrated public art commissions -- Fallen from Olana State Historic Site, and Freshwater from Philadelphia Contemporary -- that the artist has repurposed and translated for the gallery exhibition. They also discussed the upcoming sculptural installation presented by Praise Shadows at the 2023 Armory Show's Platform section curated by Respini.
Jean Shin is known for her large-scale installations and public sculptures that transform accumulations of discarded objects into powerful monuments that interrogate our complex relationship between material consumption, collective identity and community engagement.
Eva Respini was the Curator and Co-Commissioner of the historic and critically acclaimed presentation of Simone Leigh at the US Pavilion for the 59th Venice Biennale, as well as the former Barbara Lee Chief Curator at the ICA/Boston from 2015 until 2023. She was Curator at the Museum of Modern Art for over a decade, where she organized numerous exhibitions of contemporary art and photography.
