SHIN GALLERY

Finding the beauty in anything often begins with desire, and it’s the insatiable desire to collect, curate, and sell dazzling arrays of things of beauty that drives Hong Gyu Shin, the founder of Shin Gallery.

Stepping into the Gallery is to travel into the universe of his highly cultivated and idiosyncratic taste. One day, you’ll find work by contemporary Korean artists; another, art from the 80s coexisting with Indigenous artists; and another, Van Gogh next to Lucio Fontana, alongside these artists’ personal letters, candid photographs, art books, and mementos.

The gallery features three upstairs rooms for viewings, creating an intimate atmosphere. Down in the basement is Shin Haus, which is part office, part lab for new ideas, and part venue for intimate conversations. Hong Gyu is often there with a good story on the tip of his tongue, he’s itching to tell.

Hong Gyu Shin founded his gallery in 2013, when he was twenty-three. Born in the small industrial city of Ulsan, South Korea, he came to the United States at sixteen to study art conservation and international art history at the University of Delaware. He started selling artworks from his own personal collection of Korean artists out of his dorm room. In 2017, he moved into the Orchard Street space. The dorm room logic still applies: if he loves it, it's in.