Po Kim (1917-2014)

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Abstract 108, 1961-62, oil on paper, 10 x 13 inches, private collection

The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery 417 Lafayette Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10003 www.waldandkimgallery.org info@waldandkimgallery.org (212) 598-1155

“I believe that the work of art is not always the result of an artist’s conscious creative act alone. In the creative process there is working of the artist’s subconscious and in some occasion the artist becomes the medium.”

Untitled 1957 Oil on canvas 45 x 50 inches Chosun Univ.

Peaches 29 1978 Colored pencil on paper 27 x 30 inches Private collection A Series of Small Paintings 1994 Acrylic on wood panel 15 x 15 inches Chosun Univ.

Untitled 2010 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 60 inches Private collection

Po Kim

(Changnyung, Korea 1917 - 2014 New York City) Born in Korea in 1917, Po Kim was among the first of a generation of Korean artists who immigrated to the United States in the 1950’s. Kim left Korea as a political exile, later establishing himself in New York’s pulsating and dynamic art scene. Underappreciated by the mainstream until a decade ago, Kim maintained an independent presence, without promoting his work or fully committing to any one school, instead choosing to continuously develop and explore various styles and forms of expression throughout his entire life.

The traumatic impact of the hardships in his formative years in war-torn Japan and Korea can be found in varying degrees throughout his extensive body of work. Born into poor circumstances in Korea, Kim studied art in Tokyo between 1937 and 1946, where he received a Western-style academic arts education. Returning to Korea, he established the Department of Fine Arts at Chosun University and pursued a busy life as an artist and teacher. During the Korean War (1950- 53), he became a target of political suspicions on both sides of the conflict, enduring arrest and torture and living under constant surveillance. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invited him on a fellowship, which he accepted, arriving in 1955 and staying for two years. Afterwards, Kim moved to New York in 1957, with only a few hundred dollars in his pocket.

Abstract 236 1961-62 Oil on paper 18.5 x 24 inches The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

Abstract Expressionism: Challenging Tradition and Fusing Cultures Living in Lower Manhattan, Kim absorbed the air of its flourishing avant-garde scene, interacting with artists such as Lenore Tawney, Agnes Martin, Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof. Embracing the movement’s challenge of established conventions and its potential for emotive authenticity, Kim produced a large number of Abstract Expressionist paintings between 1957 and 1965. In these paintings he explored a wide range of styles, from Gestural Abstraction to Color Field, fusing the energetic brushstrokes and depth of Eastern ink painting with the bright, robust sensuality of New York School paintings. These works maintain a palpable connection to his Korean heritage, as can be seen in textural layers suggestive of Korean ceramic glazes, elegant calligraphic brush strokes, use of open space, ethereal otherworldly landscapes, and bold use of color. On a trip to Europe in 1965 and 1966, Kim shifted from his American-inspired Abstract Expressionist canvases to hard-edged shapes of color blocks.

Untitled 1959-65 Oil on cotton 84 x 72 inches The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

Abstract 174 1961-62 Oil on paper 18.75 x 23.75 inches The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

Abstract 167 1961-62 Oil on paper 18.75 x 23.75 inches The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

Untitled _1958_02 1958 Oil on linen 60 x 72 inches The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

Cathedral 1969-1970 Oil on canvas 60 x 72 inches The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

Walnut Collage 5 1979-1980 Colored pencil and collage on paper 15.25 x 21.5 inches Private Collection

Broccoli 2 (Detail) 1974 Colored pencil on paper 15.25 x 21.5 inches Private collection

Hyperrealism: Returning to the Essentials In the 1970s Kim felt his abstract work had reached a dead end and he lost the desire to continue painting along the same lines. Ever-evolving and challenging himself, Kim later stated “I went back as if I became a student again, observing objects and drawing realistically.” Thus, his work saw a drastic shift from abstraction to hyperrealistic still-lifes of simply arranged fruits, vegetables, or inanimate objects based on direct observation. The scale became smaller and more intimate as he shifted to colored pencil on paper.

Figurative Expressionism: Searching for Paradise After about a decade of Hyperrealism, Kim shifted again, painting freely brushed imagery in a style that paralleled the American trend of Figurative Expressionism. His works from the 1980s onward comprise the largest of his oeuvre, as if he were accumulating artistic styles by orchestrating the elements of his previous work. Rich in narrative, these canvases contain personal themes and mysterious alternative realities filled with animals, humans, and nature. Kim said in 2011, “I never painted with specific ideas in mind. Long ago, my life was not very peaceful, so I wanted to forget the pain, and only paint fantasies, things of beauty, things that were devoid of sufferings... you could say that by creating pictures of a fantasy world, I was escaping reality.”

Distance Song, 1989-90, acrylic on linen, diptych, 84 x 144 inches, total (2 panels 84 x 72 inches each). The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

We Are, 1992-94, acrylic on canvas, triptych, 84 x 216 inches, total (3 panels 84 x 72 inches each). The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

Fish on the Table 1980-81 Oil on wood panel 15 x 15 inches Private collection

Sea Horse 1990 Oil on canvas 72 x 84 inches The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

Untitled, 2013, acrylic and colored tape on canvas, triptych, 72 x 144 inches, total (3 panels 72 x 48 in. each). The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery

Late Career As an artist whose career was shaped by an unceasing exploration of mediums and creative expression, Kim continued to evolve his style and remained dynamic through to the very end of his life. In 2010 he unexpectedly returned to Abstraction Expressionist non-figurative works that were similar, yet distinct from his paintings from the late 1950s and 60s. However, before and during this very last stage, Po Kim’s unquenchable thirst for discovery had taken him into a new direction once again – to canvases filled with colored tape and cut-out paper, in many ways reminiscent of Matisse’s late cut-out works.

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