Shin Masaharu

Art history has a long tradition of categorizing artworks by movements, styles, geography, or epochs; as a result, one often tries to see the legacy of the country of origin of an artist. With the globalisation of the art market, the aesthetic value just like the financial value of a work of art changes depending on where it is exhibited. Furthermore, its place of production may determine what the viewer expects to see and what will naturally have an influence on the way he will evaluate the work of art.

Shin Masaharu believes that an artist by accumulating, developing, and conveying his values might lead to a transformation of the contemporary art scene’s standards. His recent works question the value given to gold or silver in our societies both in terms of cultural tradition and intrinsic value. Therefore, in his new series called Kohama Island, Shin Masaharu uses the gold colour as the use of gold leaves reflects traditional Japanese painting. The artist but it must be seen as a criticism of the regional visual's quest which seeks to only imitate the visual tradition of its own place.

Shin’s paintings have both gold leaves patterns and mirrors motifs effects, in fact they are not the true reflection of reality but merely an illusion. Through his work the artist questions the relationship between the pattern and the painting as genuine and fake. His work also refers to the essence of a genuine painting; is it the artists physical traces left on a canvas or the reflect of his inner thought? 

Creating his work using a semi-industrial method with the silkscreen process, he erases traces of the artist’s patte, however his work is also a mirror of his mind, and that is why he includes shadows of his personal memory and episodes of his private life within his creations.

Shin Masaharu completed his master’s degree in oil painting at the prestigious Kyoto University of the Arts in 2021 and his paintings already trigger high interest among art professionals and collectors.