Born in a family of artists, Hannah Shin is no stranger to arts. Her father owns an art school and teaches arts and fashion. So does her mother. And she means the business. Shin, who is Korean, just graduated from her Bachelor of Arts course in London and she already has around 30 paintings.
So why does she come to the Big Durian? “I came back to Jakarta because my family was here. And I’ve been living here for fifteen years,” she quipped.
That said, she has acquired Bahasa Indonesia. “Bisa bicara Bahasa Indonesia juga (I speak Indonesian), but just a little. Not too fluently,” Shin said sheepishly.
Shin was also present when Harry Dharsono, a prominent Indonesian haute couture designer and textile artist, celebrated his 65th birthday today (14/3/2015). She stood in the crowd with her tighly clad black gown and donned a fashionable hat with furs on her head. Mr Dharsono aptly described Shin as “a painter who looks like a painting herself”. He put it right.
Oil paintings of hers were exhibited at Ciputra Theater and Lotte Shopping Avenue. Some are bluish, orange, and a mixture of various colors with titles in it.
Artswise, Shin loves oil as the medium of her creative processes. She experimented with a lot of chemical substances to make it very transparent, translucent and flowy.
Despite being a fledgling artist, Shin has her own distinct character as a painter. “Most of my paintings has the motions, showing emotions that I felt when I’m painting,” Shin added.
Each and every artwork has its own story as the background. Shin shared a story in her painting titled “Warrior”. After her trip to Africa as a volunteer as one of the artists teaching arts to the underprivileged children there, she felt the urge to give hope to them. “They (these children) are small but they’re all warriors. There are warriors in them and they need to show that to the world.” Shin believes any piece of artwork is “a duplicate” of an artist and the painting also represents herself, a relatively unknown, new artist with a “small” reputation.
Like any artists, Shin has her influence. She adores a more famous abstract expressionist painter. She was then inspired to use a single color in her painting and tried to make it speak by itself.
Although she is heavily influenced, Shin invented her unique technique of painting. When we think of oil paintings, we think of paintings that are very thick and stand out as painters tend to add more and more oil onto it. Shin, however, does it in a reverse way. “For the white bits, I clean out the blue color and make layers.”
Loyal College of Arts awaits Shin after this. Her artistic pursuit does not seem to end quite soon as Shin realizes the significance of education in her future career. By being surrounded by the best artists, Shin hopes to learn more by accepting critiques that make her think more about her works, and in which way she should do it better. (*/)
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