Byron Kim

Byron Kim is an American contemporary artist of Korean descent, born in La Jolla, California in 1961. He studied at Yale University and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Kim is perhaps best known for his ongoing conceptual and minimalist practice, which frequently interrogates questions of race, identity, and perception. His most celebrated work, 'Synecdoche' (1991, ongoing), consists of hundreds of small monochromatic painted panels, each matched to the exact skin tone of individual people, friends, family members, and acquaintances, creating a grid-like installation that both references and subverts the traditions of Abstract Expressionism and minimalist color field painting. The work was notably exhibited at the Whitney Biennial in 1993, where it garnered significant critical attention for its quiet political charge.