Byron Kim (born in 1961 in

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) is a

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

ist who lives and works in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. In the early 1990s he produced

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

paintings exploring racial identity. He graduated from Yale University in 1983 where he was a member of

Manuscript Society Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Toward the end of each academic year 16 rising seniors are inducted into the society, which meets twice weekly for dinner and discussion. Manuscript is reputedly ...

Works

Kim's work in the early 1990s consisted of monochrome canvases depicting the skin tones of friends and family.

Carey Lovelace Carey Lovelace is an American art journalist, playwright, curator, and producer based in New York. Early life and education Lovelace was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Whittier, California. She studied theatre at Interlochen Arts Academy. A ...

''Byron Kim at Max Protetch - Brief Article'', ''Art in America'', October 2001.
/ref> He gained early recognition for ''Synecdoche'', his contribution to the 1993

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

, which embodied the aesthetic and political aspirations of the art in that year's exhibition.Michael Kelly in Salim Kemal, Ivan Gaskell, ''Politics and Aesthetics in the Arts'', Cambridge University Press, 2000, p249. ''Synecdoche'' (1991–1992) is a grid of 400 small,

monochromatic A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or color scheme, palette is composed of one color (or lightness, values of one color). Images using only Tint, shade and tone, shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or Black and wh ...

paintings. Each panel recreates the

skin color Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is the result of genetics (inherited from one's biological parents and or individu ...

of an individual who sat for Kim while he painted their

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

. 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. These monochrome canvases were followed by two or three-zoned canvases that color-sampled objects, sites or people. Kim collaborated with artist

Glenn Ligon Glenn Ligon (born 1960, pronounced Lie-gōne) is an American conceptual artist whose work explores race, language, desire, sexuality, and identity.Meyer, Richard. "Glenn Ligon", in George E. Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmerman (eds), ''Gay Histories a ...

on ''Black & White'' (1993), part of a series critiquing the 'prejudices' of art materials, specifically the hues of 'Flesh'-colored tubes of paint. ''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 and makes photographic assemblages.Grace Glueck
''Art in Review'', ''The New York Times'', Dec 9, 2005.
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Byron American contemporary painters 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists 1961 births Living people People from La Jolla, San Diego 20th-century American male artists

Works

See also

References