Choong Sup Lim (b. 1941) grew up in Jincheon, Korea, a farming town in central South Korea. Upon earning his BFA from the Seoul National University in 1964, he decided to move to New York. With him, he brought elements from the Dansaekhwa movement which was proliferating in South Korea at the time. Dansaekhwa means “monochromatic painting” and employed materials like burlap and barbed wire. Processes included pushing paint through weaves of burlap and painting unaltered brushstrokes. A spiritual belief system was also connected to this movement which was fundamentally different from any Western values or traditions.
Lim has lived and worked in New York City ever since 1973. The divide between his collective memories of his youth in Korea and New York is a driving force in his work. In 1973, Lim was awarded the prestigious Max Beckmann Memorial Scholarship to study at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. Lim also studied at New York University, where he received his MFA in 1993.
Lim has been exhibited in numerous museums, galleries, and group shows in both Korea and New York City. Some of his most notable shows have been at Kukje Gallery in Seoul and OK Harris in New York City. He has had his work exhibited in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Hirshhorn Museum: The Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. to name a few. He has also received several awards including The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation: “Space Program” Grant and the Fund from the NYS Council on the Arts. Lim still lives and works at his studio in New York City.