Shi Jin-Hua is a groundbreaking figure in conceptual and performance art. He was born in 1964 in Taiwan and passed away in 2024. Shi was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 17, a condition that required him to adopt a rigorous daily regimen of monitoring and insulin injections. Living with type 1 diabetes and the daily measurements of blood sugar levels became Shi’s unique artistic language. For his 2003-2004 MoMA PS1 artist residency, Shi developed the "Living Beyond Measurement" series, wherein measurement evolved from medical necessity into a critical interrogation of systems of quantification. He used his own body to explore what could and couldn’t be measured, not just space and form but also institutions, relationships and identity. Notable in the series was the ”Clothing Project” where Shi collected 77 pieces of clothing donated by PS1 employees and artists, numbered them one by one, put them on and took photos. Then he cut the 77 pieces of clothing into strips and sewed them together into a large roll of “cloth ruler”. The circumference of the PS1 Building was measured with the clothes ruler. This project relativized the measurement units commonly used in architecture to units related to the human body, going beyond the norm.
In the Buddhist tradition that profoundly influenced Shi Jin-Hua’s spiritual practice, impermanence is not merely acknowledged—it is embraced as the essential nature of existence. Shi embodied this wisdom through decades of work that transformed ephemeral actions—walking, measuring, drawing—into measured reflections on mortality and meaning.
In addition to measurement, Shi Jin Hua's “Pencil Walker" is a historical masterpiece of larger than life exploration of the world and existential questions. The genesis of Shi's seminal "Pen Walking” series occurred in 1994: while writing in his diary, he noticed discontinuous lines emerging from the nib of a pen that had been gifted by his brother. Recognizing the pen had reached the end of its functional life, Shi took a sheet of paper and began to draw irregular patterns until the ink was exhausted. This became The Last Drawing of His Life, the first work in what would evolve into his significant “Pencil Walker”. He metaphorically uses a pen as a human being and transformed it into an infinite subject, holding a pencil and walking back and forth in front of the canvas from 1996 to 2015. As time passes, the pencil gradually wears out, and the traces left behind symbolize the life trajectory of this work, leaving a deep emotional mark on the viewer.
Shi Jin-Hua received a BFA from National Taiwan Normal University and an MFA from University of California, Irvine. Exhibited throughout Taiwan and internationally—including the Taipei Biennial, Asian Art Biennial, Visa for Thirteen at MoMA P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Asia Now Paris, Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Dubai, and Photo Shanghai—Shi's work is held in collections including Australia's White Rabbit Gallery, the Fidelity International Art Collection, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taichung Museum of Fine Arts, and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.