Synecdoche
Byron Kim
1 of 2
Object Label
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.
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. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
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