Spectrum of Humanity by Byron Kim (Image courtesy of National Gallery of Art)
Blake Gopnik of The Washington Post reports “Synecdoche”, by the 48-year-old Korean American artist Byron Kim, is now on view at The National Gallery of Art. “Synecdoche” is described as radical, abstract work portraying the racial and cultural “mosaic” of modern America. The piece consists of a grid of 429 uniform panels of color, each panel a single shade of pink, brown or tan, meant to represent the skin tone of different people who sat for Kim. Sitters included Lorna Simpson, the well-known African American artist, and the late Marcia Tucker, founder of the New Museum in New York. Kim’s piece undermines the tradition of Old Master portraitists by proving traditional portraits don’t show the inside of people—instead they only reveal patches of skin—telling us nothing about the person.
Kim began the piece in 1991 and declared it an open-ended work which will continue to have portraits added to it.
Read more at The Washington Post.
