BYRON KIM AND HIS CONTEMPORARY ARTWORK

Byron Kim Bibliography
Kim Byron is a contemporary artist that was born in La Jolla California in 1961. His early years in art were in the 1990s where he produced artwork with single colours on canvases. His works made a major contribution to the Whitney Biennial. Part of his signature works include Synecdoche, which he started in 1991 and displayed at the Whitney Biennial in 1993, and it is currently a part of the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The painting is comprised with squares of varying tones ranging from light pink to dark brown, these squares are then linked and arranged to form a rectangular shape. As Synecdoche hints, a lot of Kim's paintings appear to be basically abstractions. Such abstract and minimalistic works also suggest a new way of looking at pure abstract art and portraits. Furthermore, upon close observation and contemplation, one will notice that the work not only connects to the artist’s personal experiences and cultural background but also raises complex ideas and questions regarding representation of different colors. Byron Kim, a Korean-American born in 1961 in California, graduated from Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1986, and Yale University, where Kim got his MA degree. During the 90s, Kim starts to paint skin colors of all his friends, families, and other people around him. Kim’s work had numerous group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout New York City, where he lived and worked. In 1993, Byron Kim’s work was exhibited in Whitney Biennial, through which he immediately got recognition and attention from public and critics. Ever since, Kim has had many solo or group exhibitions in various galleries, museums, and institutions all over the world; James Cohan Gallery has offered the most solo exhibitions of Kim. However, many other institutes such as Max Protetch Gallery, Whitney Museum, MoMA, and Hirschhorn Museum also exhibited Kim’s work. Moreover, Kim also has participated in numerous international exhibitions including the 7th and 3rd Gwangju Biennale Korea in 2000 and 2008, and Samsung Museum of Modern Art, which allowed him to connect with his home country through art. Byron Kim has received numerous awards including the Alpert Award, UCROSS and Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. Kim is still actively working on his art and making important exhibitions. In 2014 he was included in the exhibition “Come As You Are: Art of the 1990s at the Montclair Art Museum” which traveled all over U.S. In 2015, Kim’s work was presented at the Sharjah Biennial 12 (United Arab Emirates) and in a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Most recently, Kim had a significant solo exhibition at James Cohan Gallery again. Byron Kim’s WorksThe works of Kim comprised of canvases that depicted the tone of the family, friends and culture. His work of Synecdoche made him gain an early recognition and significantly had a contribution to the Whitney Biennial of 1993. The contribution was an embodiment of political aspirations and aesthetic of the early years. His monochromatic paintings denoted political and racial dimensions. Kim also collaborated with Glenn Ligon artist in the 1993 Black & White exhibition. Glenn Ligon was also his key influencer in the field of art. Amirsedeghi indicates that “'prejudices' of art materials, specifically the hues of 'Flesh'-colored tubes of paint.” Furthermore, his other works were a depiction of a naturalistic approach and represented things such as the children's hair or the palms. Additionally, other works showed his love in nature and thus depicted the landscape and photographic assemblages. His works in the landscape include the Clear Blue and the white painting series which also depict to be his extensive artwork collection. The paintings comprise of infinite, expansive shy that has pale hues and notably “wandering about while intermingling and unraveling on the picture surfaces, the paintings convey a sense of transparency and dreamy atmospheres.” In the series of Sunday Painting, the artists make an observation of the sky in a direct manner that was evident in the British landscapists of the 19th century. His landscape paintings gave his artwork a sense of vitality through adding some lines of the fleeting atmospheric condition. Ki successfully manages to make a record of the natural world and the life of humans simultaneously in his landscape paints. The Synecdoche contains more than 400 panels with everyone having a single hue that ranges from light color to dark brown color. Kim aimed at depicting the skin color of every person in the oil paint. The works of Kim do an exploration to the history of the abstract painting coupled with the challenges that arose from vision and color. Besides, this art work depict an aspects of existence and human identity. The title of the portrait is a clear visual of representation of political democracy and it drew the colors of different races. His work questions the political and the formal meaning of the skin color through the hundreds of skin tones that are evident in the paint. Notably, his work managed to create a metaphor of the diversity human cultures and bodies. Trueblood notes that “The work exposes the political ideology of multiculturalism and initiates a critical discourse around the subject of the body, the site of racial distinction.”. The Belly Paintings was done on the site of the Threshold exhibition by Kim. This work consists of latex pouches that were attached to the canvases. They were also filled with latex painting and show pregnant bellies. This work portrayed a figurative depiction of the mother’s pregnancy. Kim’s work called “Please Do Not Touch” consists of layers that are marked with his fingerprints and thus reveal the direct relationship of the fingers with the occurrences of the world. Byron Kim Culture and ArtKim’s love for the Korean culture received considerable attention in the Whitney Biennial which occurred in 1993. The majority of his works aimed at defining the traditional and cultural “portraiture and figurative painting using monochrome abstraction.” Kim managed to attain an element of realism concerning cultural depiction in his artwork. His works explore the background of the artist's culture such as the striped patterns in Miss Mushinsky. Kim attempted to recreate the memories of culture and a compelling sense of purity. His works were inspired by Goryeo Dynasty and the entire Korean culture. He aimed at portraying his Korean cultured in his arts.Indeed Kim’s works captured Goryeo Dynasty and his love for the culture and this aspect seemed to be his source of inspiration in the artworks. This was represented in the Goryeo Dynasty Green Glaze series. As James Cohan Gallery notes, Kim widely made a survey on the fragments of the old celadon ceramics. Certainly, the series revealed Byron Kim’s Korean background and communicated the belief of cultural aesthetic to the distinct culture. Kim’s works contained varies tonalities of the Goryeo celadon that showed culture. The green blaze ceramics called “celadons” surpass the great history of Korean culture in Kim’s art. The distinctive qualities that were depicted in these works showed an element of elegance. The extraordinary and amazing paintings served to uphold the culture that is appreciated by many generations. The spirit of grace in Kim’s cultural works is central and powerful to the aristocracy of the culture. According to Glueck, Kim’s artwork heavily borrowed the Korean aesthetics and thus developed his sense of uniqueness and naturalism. Synecdoche, one of the most fundamental works of Kim began in 1991 and ended in 1993 and was exhibited in the Whitney Biennial. Presently, the artwork is a permanent collection in the “National Gallery in Washington, D. C.” Hong notes that the painting appears to be entirely abstract consisting of panels of small grid paintings that are formatted to allude the “monochrome works of Ad Reinhardt and Brice Marden.” However, when closely analyzed, this work has its reality and is an explicit representation of the people's skin color. The assortment of paints to replicate the exact shade. Kim had a great love for his Korean culture, and in his paintings, he sought to invite the significance of his cultural background and imparted a “representational dimension to the modernist form of the abstract monochrome.” In a modern look on Kim’s work portraiture reveals an artist's exploration into the meaning of culture along with the issues of identity, individuality, and race. Kim presented his political ambitions in his paintings and captured the element of unity in races. Kim is a contemporary Korean-American artists who aimed at postulating his love for the culture in the artwork. He is labeled to be artists of color, and his racial identity in his works came out as being a hot topic to the public. The ethnic identification and stereotypes of the Korean culture also featured in the time of colonization and contextualization framed. Byron Kim and involvement in DansaekhwaThe 1950s Korean abstraction and the 1960s geometric field abstraction culminated into the Dansaekhwa which was a monochrome style of painting in the 1970s. The initial exhibition of Dansaekhwa comprised of many artists that came from Korea. Establishment of Dansaekhwa marked the end of the oppressive regime and the socio-political situations. The art of Dansaekhwa presented its form of distinction and uniqueness. Indeed, the monochrome art was based on logic and figured the western abstraction with an element of aesthetics ideals which notably provoked individuals and drive at connecting the Korean roots using traditional culture. Kim’s involvement with Dansaekhwa proved to be more beneficial to his art. He managed to explore the energy and the continued tactility and materials in his art through the association with Dansaekhwa. His works created relief, relations, and texture of the movement. The personalities and the dynamics of these works showed an expansion of the artistic boundaries and thus proved to be a leading figure in the movement. The participation renewed the artistic interest and presented artist who took pride in his culture. In 1970, the Korean nation was facing dictatorship, and every law was defined and enforced by the regime. The emergence of the Dansaekhwa by the artists such as Kim sharply challenged the nation's status quo. Dansaekhwa is translated to mean “monochrome painting” coined a motivation of rebellion that was shared by the Korean artist including Kukje, Kim and Boghossian Foundation. Through the Dansaekhwa, Kim managed to interact with other artists such as Chung Chang-Sup, Suh Seung-Wong and Cho Yong-ik who were renowned artistic figures during the time and inspired the work of Kim. Kim’s work in the ‘monochrome painting’ depicted the tradition stylistic tendencies that were significant during the period. More importantly, the works seemed to present the characteristic of emulation and assimilation to the western form of modernism and also a liberation from the oppressing Korean artistic heritage. In Dansaekhwa, one can easily notice that the inrersra that Kim had in racial background particularly influenced his works. Many of his works especially showed the different skin colors meaning the diversities in races. Kim aimed at portraying his objective in his works that branded then to being a notable aspect of art.BibliographyAmirsedeghi, Hossein, Marcelle Joseph, Andrea P. A Belloli, Heejin No, Yŏng-na Kim, Sook-Kyung Lee, and John Rajchman. Korean Art. 1st ed., n.d.Altman, Anna. "WHERE I WORK: BYRON KIM." ArtsAsiaPacific. ArtsAsiaPacific, Sept.-Oct. 2008. Retrieved on May 19, 2017, from http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/60/WhereIWorkByronKimGlueck, Grace. "Art in Review; Byron Kim." Rev. of Prelude (Oddly Flowing). Max Protetchy Gallery The New York Times 9 Dec. 2005: Retrieved on May 19, 2017, from https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E7DE1131F93AA35751C1A9639C8B63Hong, Sunpyo. "Korean Art Of The 1950S(1), Beginning And Pain Of The First Republic’S Art". Art History Forum 40 (2015): 7-27.Kee Joan. Byron Kim and his synecdoche in the book “Come as you are; Arts of the 1990s Retrieved on May 19, 2017, from http://montclairdocents.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/0/3/24039921/3466_come_as_you_are_2nd_text_proof_07-01-14.pdfPlateau Museum. Magazine article on author’s visit to Byron Kim’s studio and interview with the artist. Seoul, Korea. Mentions his Koryo Green Glaze work. Retrieved on May 19, 2017, from http://www.plateau.or.kr/html/past/13/en_sub1.htmlRichard, Paul. "GLEANINGS IN GREEN." The Washington Post. WP Company, 3 Aug. 1996. Web. 09 Feb. 2017. Retrieved on May 19, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1996/08/04/gleanings-in-green/4a7d8956-83bf-4af4-9285-be85f7f056f4/. Trueblood, Paul. "Byron's Political Realism." The Byron Journal 1 (1973): 50-58.James Cohan Gallery. "Byron Kim." Byron Kim – Artists. Retrieved on May 19, 2017, from http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/byron-kim/1