School Colors, 2019
Byron Kim with Dr MLK Jr School

15’ x 7’
Photography by Anke Schuettler
Printing courtesy of Pushdot Studio

School Colors is a project inspired by Byron Kim’s Synecdoche (1991–present), an ongoing project of minimalist painting portraiture that now comprises more than 400 panels each a single hue ranging from light tan or pink to dark brown. For School Colors, Kim worked in collaboration with Dr MLK Jr School students, PSU students, teachers, and community artists to produce a photographic work that has the appearance of a minimalist colorblock grid. This artwork depicts photographed skin tones of each student at the school. Over 300 students were photographed over the course of two days, during which time Byron Kim led a series of color-mixing workshops and gave an artist talk during an all-school assembly.

The project was generously supported by the Dr MLK Jr School PTA and is permanently installed in the school library.

All-School Assembly artist talk with Byron Kim

2-day color mixing and photography workshop with Byron Kim