C.I. Kim on Coming to New York

NEW YORK—For a few years now, art-market insiders have been abuzz about emerging markets, sometimes characterized by the financial markets as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China). But they might as well spell the word correctly by adding a K, for Korea, or, perhaps, for Kim. Korean businessman C.I. Kim, who owns a transport company and department store in Cheonan, has recently established himself as one of the most aggressive players in the international contemporary art world. In addition to amassing his own vast collection, he has founded Arario gallery, which now has branches in Cheonan and Seoul, Korea; Beijing; and, as of this week, New York. The new 7,000-square-foot branch on West 25th Street was designed by architect-of-the-moment David Adjaye, and is one of city’s largest commercial galleries. In keeping with the zeitgeist, Arario’s inaugural New York show, “Absolute Images II,” which opens tomorrow and runs through January 13, 2008, features works by the most sought-after Chinese contemporary artists—Fang Lijun, Ji Dachun, Liu Jianhua, Sui Jianguo, Wang Du, Wang Guangyi, Yang Shaobin, Yue Minjun, Zeng Hao, Zhang Xiaogang, and Zhou Tiehai. On the eve of its opening, ARTINFO spoke with Mr. Kim (and his translator, Arario gallery director Jane Yoon) about his passion for collecting, his desire to give Asian artists their due, and his plans for a new museum in Korea.

Arario gallery is opening a huge space in New York this week. What is your own history with contemporary art?

In 1989 I opened a gallery in Cheonan, Korea. I closed it in 1999, and reopened in 2002 in a new building, where I had a much bigger space. My first show was a Keith Haring exhibition organized with the Keith Haring Foundation and New York dealer Jeffrey Deitch. The art world and the market have changed so much over the years. At one time it was a simpler mechanism, like a bicycle—there was the artist and the dealer. Now it has developed, in the 21st century, into a car. There’s the artist, the dealer, the museum, and the collectors and collections. Having a good space is very important, to accommodate all the mediums artists are using.

What helped you develop an appreciation for art?

I started out as a collector. My first gallery wasn’t really a commercial gallery; it was for my collection. I had to pay my dues, get experience, and develop an eye for contemporary art. So I traveled a lot and met and worked with many dealers, such as Jay Jopling at London’s White Cube. In forming my collection I have met a lot of great people. Over the past 30 years I have collected Sigmar Polke, Jorg Immendorf, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and others, and have learned to understand contemporary art. I felt ready to come to New York.

You own a lot of works by YBAs and by Germany’s recent Leipzig school of painters, and now I understand you are looking at artists from India and elsewhere. What other kinds of work are you collecting at the moment?

At a certain point, I became very interested in painting, and I began collecting the Leipzig artists, like Matthias Weischer and Martin Kobe. Then I began focusing on Asian art. Now I am interested in Russia, Latin America—areas where young artists have a lot of potential and are ready to break out.

When you first opened a gallery, was your mission to bring art of the West to Korea, or to focus on Asian artists?

I have always emphasized presenting Western artists—young artists more than established ones—to Asia. But I have also always wanted to be able to present Asian artists to Europe and the States, and now it has become possible.

A Korean newspaper reported that in conservative art circles there you have been considered a “vain art merchant” and an “oddball.” How do you respond to such things?

I don’t think too much about them.

You have become known for supporting artists by paying for studio and fabrication costs. Why is this important to you?

In Asia there isn’t the same system of representation that there is in the West. I want to help the artists because they can’t go out and make deals themselves. I provide fabrication costs because new media are so much more expensive than canvas and paint.