'There are many "min-joong" artists [artists of people's art] who have lived through the 1980s and Shin Hak-Chul is oen of its biggest names. Some of his works (for example, "The History of Modern Korea -July and August Labor Struggles" and "The History of Modern Korea-Rice Planting") can be compared to the altarpiece hung highest in the site of the social struggle of that period. He was a "public artist" on the barricade, history painter, peasant painter, and labour movement artist who engaged firmly in the turmoil of people's movements for democratization from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, painting the joys, sorrows, and hopes of the people and inspiring the future perspective of people's history.' - excerpted from Sung Wankyung's essay.

The present exhibition catalogue also includes artist biography.