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Byron Kim — Bulbokjang #2 (for Kim Chung-Up)
Byron Kim

Bulbokjang #2 (for Kim Chung-Up)

2017

Bulbokjang #2 (for Kim Chung-Up) presents a quietly luminous surface of hand-stitched silk dyed with natural pigments, its intimate scale belying the depth of cultural and personal reference it carries. Byron Kim dedicated this 2017 work to Kim Chung-Up, the pioneering Korean architect whose modernist vision drew equally from Western abstraction and Korean spatial tradition, and that layered inheritance resonates throughout the piece. The natural dyes produce a tonal range that shifts with light and angle, giving the silk an organic warmth that synthetic materials could not replicate, while the hand-stitching introduces a subtle texture that transforms the surface into something closer to touch than to sight. Kim has long explored the intersection of identity, materiality, and cultural memory, and this work deepens that inquiry through its medium as much as its subject. Silk carries its own historical weight in Korean culture, bound to ritual, labor, and the passage of knowledge between generations, and Kim's choice to work with natural dye aligns the making process with those older traditions. At 38.1 by 33 centimeters, the piece functions at an intimate, almost manuscript-like scale that invites close looking and rewards sustained attention. Signed by the artist and offered directly through SFMOMA, this work represents a meaningful intersection of Kim's personal homage and his broader practice. Collectors drawn to works that hold conceptual seriousness within restrained, materially sensitive form will find Bulbokjang #2 particularly compelling as both an object and a document of cross-cultural artistic dialogue.

Medium
Natural dye and hand-stitched silk
Overall
Signed
Yes

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About this work

Byron Kim, Bulbokjang #2 (for Kim Chung-Up), 2017

Bulbokjang #2 (for Kim Chung-Up) presents a quietly luminous surface of hand-stitched silk dyed with natural pigments, its intimate scale belying the depth of cultural and personal reference it carries. Byron Kim dedicated this 2017 work to Kim Chung-Up, the pioneering Korean architect whose modernist vision drew equally from Western abstraction and Korean spatial tradition, and that layered inheritance resonates throughout the piece. The natural dyes produce a tonal range that shifts with light and angle, giving the silk an organic warmth that synthetic materials could not replicate, while the hand-stitching introduces a subtle texture that transforms the surface into something closer to touch than to sight. Kim has long explored the intersection of identity, materiality, and cultural memory, and this work deepens that inquiry through its medium as much as its subject. Silk carries its own historical weight in Korean culture, bound to ritual, labor, and the passage of knowledge between generations, and Kim's choice to work with natural dye aligns the making process with those older traditions. At 38.1 by 33 centimeters, the piece functions at an intimate, almost manuscript-like scale that invites close looking and rewards sustained attention. Signed by the artist and offered directly through SFMOMA, this work represents a meaningful intersection of Kim's personal homage and his broader practice. Collectors drawn to works that hold conceptual seriousness within restrained, materially sensitive form will find Bulbokjang #2 particularly compelling as both an object and a document of cross-cultural artistic dialogue.

Medium
Natural dye and hand-stitched silk
Dimensions
overall: 38.1 x 33 cm
Year
2017
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)

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Collected by

Mihail Lari