Shin Gallery welcomes you to a new exhibition titled Form & Composition: the Art of Choong Sup Lim, Richard Tuttle, Hawkins Bolden on the sculptural works of Choong Sup Lim, Richard Tuttle and Hawkins Bolden. These visionary artists defy the conventional boundaries of sculpture and usher audiences into a spiritual world where art transcends form and space. Each artist's work is a highly personal expression – an assemblage not only of materials, but of memory.

Assemblage art, used by all three artists in this exhibition, originated from Picasso’s three-dimensional Cubist constructions from 1912-1914. Commonly employed by European Dadaists and Surrealists, the form was resurrected by Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg in the 1950s and 1960s. Assemblage functioned as a way for artists to introduce non-art materials into an art context. In the case of Marcel Duchamp, assemblage offered a critique of the art world and highlighted its absurdity. Meanwhile, other artists like Tracey Emin used found objects and assemblages to confront and challenge the audience to more personal, diaristic ends. Tuttle, Lim, and Bolden do away with the conceptual angle baked into assemblage’s foundation and aim for a more aesthetic approach – as if found objects themselves, placed in the right order and containing the right dimensions, can reveal a hidden history and harmony.

Richard Tuttle is an American artist who is known for his poetic body of work. As a young artist during the Pop Art and Minimalist movements, Tuttle eschewed their confines to create a more personalized and idiosyncratic style, eventually becoming a master of Post-minimalism. His works articulate poetic and formal juxtapositions and convey a quiet beauty. In the works present in this exhibition, Tuttle works with found objects, fashioning mobile-like creations with bits of wood, string, wire and acrylic paint. Although small, these works are packed with intimate and profound detail.

Korean-American artist Choong Sup Lim creates minimalist sculptures with the intent to “trace the modern person’s subconscious.” To achieve this, Lim uses a variety of materials and pulls from his memories of childhood in Jincheon, South Korea to his adulthood in New York City. He spins his own nostalgia into a complicated assemblage, brimming with aching, minimalist beauty. Lim flattens time into a singular point and his work serves as a visual diary and monument to longing and memory.

Finally, we have the enigmatic American artist Hawkins Bolden. As a child, Bolden was blinded after an accidental blow to the head during a baseball game. Because of this, he did not receive a formal education and required caretakers for most of his life. However, this also awakened in him a heightened sense of touch which would inspire him to create his “Scarecrow Sculptures.” Intended to deter hungry birds from feeding on his vegetable garden, Bolden created charming assemblages out of everyday found objects like license plates, pots, jeans, scraps of colorful fabrics, gloves, and other working class ephemera. His work conveys all the grit of his Memphis neighborhood. These Rauschenbergian creations serve as a tribute to his city, life, and the indomitable spirit of artists who continue to create despite adversity.

These three visionary artists have collectively challenged the norms of sculpture, guiding us into a realm where art becomes an intimate expression of personal memory. Richard Tuttle's poetic juxtapositions and quiet beauty, Choong Sup Lim's minimalist creations tracing subconscious landscapes, and Hawkins Bolden's resilient spirit manifesting in his raw arrangements. We invite you on this journey through personal narratives, nostalgia, and resilience.