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Byron Kim (American, born 1961). Synecdoche, 1991–1992. Oil on wood, each panel: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg, 2016.30.2a-l. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.2016.30.2a-l_view02.jpg)
Byron Kim (American, born 1961). Synecdoche, 1991–1992. Oil on wood, each panel: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg, 2016.30.2a-l. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: , CUR.2016.30.2a-l_view01.jpg)
Synecdoche
Byron Kim
Contemporary Art
Since the early 1990s, Byron Kim has completed hundreds of monochromatic paintings based on the skin colors he observes during sessions with individual sitters. Displayed in a grid, each arrangement functions as both a composite abstraction and a group portrait.
A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something refers to its whole. Through this allusion in the title, Kim questions the racialized ways in which skin and pigment tend to stand in for the entirety of a person’s perceived identity.
A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something refers to its whole. Through this allusion in the title, Kim questions the racialized ways in which skin and pigment tend to stand in for the entirety of a person’s perceived identity.
MEDIUM
Oil on wood
DATES
1991–1992
DIMENSIONS
each panel: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
2016.30.2a-l
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Byron Kim (American, born 1961). Synecdoche, 1991–1992. Oil on wood, each panel: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg, 2016.30.2a-l. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.2016.30.2a-l_view02.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, CUR.2016.30.2a-l_view02.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2022
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
© artist or artist's estate
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