About Santa Fe

Gary Kim was born in 1958 in South Korea. His outstanding artistic talent was discovered very early by his art teachers and was destined to become a fine artist. After High School Gary attended art school and studied drawing and painting and received his bachelor degree of fine art. Gary continued his education by getting a Master's Degree in an Advertising Design program in Seoul Korea. After graduating he became an acclaimed illustrator and art director for 17 years and taught art and design at art colleges. While working in the advertising field, he spent a lot of time sharpening his drawing skills by studying human anatomy and figurative.

In 1999 Gary and his young family moved to New York. To further his education, Gary enrolled in the Master program at the prestigious art school, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. While attending Pratt Institute, he often visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw a lot of the master paintings in the museum. One day he saw John Singer Sargent's master paintings and couldn't hold back his lifetime goal of being a fine artist. At the beginning of being a full-time artist he concentrated on portrait paintings and had his first huge portrait exhibition at the Chelsea Manor gallery in New York in 2003. Since then his reputation grew as a portrait artist and has painted portraits of prominent corporate chairpersons and politicians including Thomas R. Suozzi, a former Nassau County executive and gubernatorial candidate from New York,

Gary went on to have art shows at the Chelsea Manor Gallery NY, Nassau County Museum of Art NY, Heckscher museum of art huntington NY, 1261 Gallery CO, Evergreen Fine Art Gallery CO, Randy Higbee Gallery CA, World of Art Showcase at Wynn Las Vegas NV, and the Green House Gallery of San Antonio TX. He is a member of Oil Painters of America(OPA), Portrait Society of America, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico (PAPNM). His painting recently awarded of the "JURY'S TOP 60" in Salon International 2013, National Competition in Spring 2012/OPA Online Showcase Competition Finalists, Jan 2012 FASO/Bold Brush Painting Competition, Feb. 2011 FASO/Bold Brush Painting Competition, Jan. 2011 FASO/Bold Brush Painting Competition.

In 2011, Gary along with his wife relocated from New York City to Santa Fe New Mexico. They had the opportunity to run a Gary Kim Fine Art Gallery in the historic art district down town Santa Fe. He is also painting and teaching in the gallery. He is currently working on a series of Aspen paintings of Sangre de Cristo Mountain NM, and the Rocky Mountain CO areas and commissioned portrait painting as well.

Gary Kim Fine Art Gallery & Studio is located one block away from historic downtown Plaza and right across from famous hotel, Loretto Inn and Spa.