In Diaspora: Korean Artists in 1970s New York

 

김명희, 김보현, 김차섭, 김웅, 이일, 임충섭 

Myong Hi Kim, Po Kim, Tchah Sup Kim, Woong Kim, Il Lee, and Choong Sup Lim

 

JUNE 25 – SEPTEMBER 26, 2026

OPENING: THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 6–8 PM

SWPK Gallery: 417 Lafayette St, 2nd Fl., NYC. 

 

 

Tchah Sup Kim, Between Infinities (Two Lines), 1978, Copper plate etching, 22 x 25 inches

 

The 1970s marked a pivotal moment in the history of Korean artists working in New York. As the city emerged as the center of the international contemporary art world, artists arriving from Korea encountered new artistic movements, including Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and post-studio practices. Living between cultures, they navigated questions of identity, memory, and belonging while adapting to an unfamiliar social and artistic environment. Rather than choosing between Korean traditions and Western modernism, these artists forged distinctive visual languages that reflected both their cultural heritage and their experiences of migration.

 

This exhibition brings together six influential artists, Myong Hi Kim, Po Kim, Tchah Sup Kim, Woong Kim, Il Lee, and Choong Sup Lim, whose practices reveal the diverse ways Korean artists contributed to New York’s dynamic artistic landscape. Working across painting, drawing, sculpture, assemblage, and installation, they transformed the experience of diaspora into a catalyst for experimentation and innovation. Their works engage themes of memory, spirituality, labor, materiality, and cultural translation, demonstrating how artistic expression can emerge from the tensions and possibilities of living between worlds.

 

Myong Hi Kim addresses migration and memory through layered drawings on reclaimed blackboards, surfaces marked by erasure and renewal that serve as metaphors for displacement and cultural inheritance.

 

Po Kim fused the gestural energy of Abstract Expressionism with the rhythmic sensibility of East Asian calligraphy, creating paintings that balance emotional intensity with meditative reflection.

 

Tchah Sup Kim developed a distinctive visual language that merged abstraction with symbolic imagery. Drawing from Eastern philosophy, mythology, and personal reflection, his paintings explore themes of transformation, spirituality, and cultural exchange.

 

Woong Kim created contemplative works through repeated layers of oil paint and mixed media, producing subtle textures and tonal variations that emphasize duration, restraint, and lived experience.

 

Il Lee developed a distinctive abstract language through the accumulation of countless ballpoint pen marks, transforming an everyday writing instrument into a powerful tool for exploring time, movement, and process. His densely layered abstractions create immersive fields of depth and energy, while his later acrylic and oil paintings continue this exploration of line, form, and space through a process-driven approach grounded in experimentation and material sensitivity.

 

Choong Sup Lim developed an innovative practice that combines painting, sculpture, and installation through stretched fabric, thread, wood, and constructed forms. Built through processes of repetition and accumulation, his works transform simple materials into dynamic spatial structures that evoke memory, labor, and cultural transition.

 

Together, these artists represent an important chapter in the history of Korean art in America. Their works reveal how migration became a source of creative transformation, generating new forms of abstraction and material exploration while expanding the language of contemporary art. Through their diverse practices, they offer enduring reflections on identity, memory, and belonging, demonstrating how artistic innovation emerges through movement, adaptation, and cultural exchange.

 

 

ABOUT SWPK GALLERY

SWPK Gallery — The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Art Foundation — is a non-profit organization committed to promoting East-West cultural exchange through the arts by sponsoring and hosting art exhibitions of national and international artists. For more information, visit: https://www.swpk.org

 

In Diaspora: Korean Artists in 1970s New York is produced in collaboration with the Donghwa Cultural Foundation.

 

 

*김보현(Po Kim, 1917-2014) 화백 인터뷰, 2012 

*김차섭-김명희 화가 부부가 사는 풍경: 소호와 춘천 사이에서, 2007