Po Kim’s artistic career was characterized by an ever-evolving style, and an eagerness to seek out new areas of inspiration. His paintings, often large in scale, were bold and compelling, bursting with life, energy, and emotion. This work distinguished Kim as one of the premier Korean-American artists of his time. When the artist died earlier this year, he left behind a strong legacy in his paintings, the innumerable artists he inspired, and the gallery in New York and museum in Korea which bear his name.
Po’s life as an artist began in Korea, where he founded the Department of Fine Arts at Chosun University. Incarcerated and tortured during the Korean War, Kim left Korea in 1955 to accept a fellowship at the University of Illinois. He moved to New York City a few years later, and his artistic life flourished here over the next six decades.
This exhibition, through personal objects, photographs, catalogues, and paintings, seeks to provide viewers a deeper sense of an artist who found great inspiration in his identities as a Korean, an American, and a New Yorker. The objects are on loan from The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery, an institution dedicated to the art of its founders and their personal mission of intercultural dialogue between the artistic communities of New York and the world.
August 28—September 26, 2014
OPENING RECEPTION | Gallery Talk
The Legacy of Po Kim
Wednesday, September 3, 2014 | 6 PM
Po Kim was a pioneering force in the Korean American art community. When the artist died earlier this year, he left behind a strong legacy in his paintings, the innumerable artists he inspired, and the gallery in New York and museum in Korea which bear his name. The evening’s panel features NYU’s Alexandra Chang, Hunter College’s Midori Yamamura and former curator at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum’s Mr. Jeffrey Wechsler. The panelists will discuss Mr. Kim’s life; the hardships and turmoil he endured, his long illustrious career as artist and teacher, his evolving style, his influences, and his contributions and impact on the art world.
The Korea Society Gallery
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.
Of Interest:
We cordially invite you to the special concert,”In Flight”, on Saturday, September 20th at 7:30 PM at the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery.
In celebration of the life and artistic legacy of Po Kim, The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery presents “In Flight,” a special concert of paintings and music. Professor Richard Miller (Columbia University) and the New York University String Quartet perform works by Mozart, Haydn, Bach and Villa-Lobos, as well as the premiere of a piece by Professors Youngmi Ha (New York University) and Jingfei Li (Shanghai University) that was inspired by two Po Kim paintings on view at the Gallery. This collaborative work captures the spirit and color of human desires in the combined media of moving images and music.
We hope you join us to celebrate the life and works of Po Kim. If you would like to attend, please RSVP info@
Admission to this event is $20
Famed scholar Robert D. Mowry introduces the development of Korean Buddhist art from its formative phase in the late Three Kingdoms (57BC–668AD) and Unified Silla (668–935) periods through its maturation in the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), emphasizing architecture and sculpture in the earlier periods and paintings and illuminated sutras in the later periods. In tracing the development of Korean Buddhist art, this lecture explores relationships with China and will identify those characteristics that are uniquely Korean.