art.wikisort.org - Artist

Byron Kim (born in 1961 in La Jolla, California) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.[1] In the early 1990s he produced minimalist paintings exploring racial identity. He graduated from Yale University in 1983 where he was a member of Manuscript Society.

Works

Kim's work in the early 1990s consisted of monochrome canvases depicting the skin tones of friends and family.[2] He gained early recognition for Synecdoche, his contribution to the 1993 Whitney Biennial, which embodied the aesthetic and political aspirations of the art in that year's exhibition.[3] Synecdoche (1991–1992) is a grid of 400 small, monochromatic paintings. Each panel recreates the skin color of an individual who sat for Kim while he painted their portrait.[3] Although the works, at first glance, resemble minimalist paintings of the 1960s the racial and political dimensions became apparent after reading in the exhibition catalogue how the works came about.[4]

These monochrome canvases were followed by two or three-zoned canvases that color-sampled objects, sites or people.[2] Kim collaborated with artist Glenn Ligon on Black & White (1993), part of a series critiquing the 'prejudices' of art materials, specifically the hues of 'Flesh'-colored tubes of paint.[5] 46 Halsey Drive Wallingford CT (1995) records his family members' various recollections of the color of a home Kim lived in as a child. Other works employ a more naturalistic approach to represent details such as the palms of the artist's hands, or the whorls in his children's hair.

Kim also paints landscapes[2] and makes photographic assemblages.[6]

See also

• Inside the Artist's Studio, Princeton Architectural Press, 2015. (ISBN 978-1616893040)

References

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