Portrait of Terry Kim

Another of the Norman, OK, punk scene, I didn't know Terry well when I made this painting of him, but had seen him at all of the punk shows and was amused by him. He was an Asian guy, a bit scrawny, with a hump back and very pronounced knuckles. I was taking a painting class at OU when I did this and I was at the school studio one night unable to get a good likeness of the guy. His face, on the painting, had a tendency to look like Jack Webb from "Dragnet." When I was having no luck at all I took a break and went over to the Corner restaurant, which, at that time, was open all night. It wasn't a complete surprize that Terry was sitting in there with friends of his. I took a seat where I could observe him for a while, simplifying the features of his face in my mind. When I had studied him for long enough I was able to return to the studio and correct the painting.

I would later develop the ability to more realistically capture the features of my subjects, but at this time I was all for the basic simplification of the features since that was about all that I could really accomplish. But my simple face of Terry Kim, his stooped composure, and the crude enlargement of his hand, seemed to work. As soon as the guys at the record store had seen it they wanted to hang it on the wall. That's where Terry saw it.

I didn't keep in touch with Terry when I moved to Kansas City in 1985, and years later I would hear assorted rumors but never too much information. Later I lived in Oklahoma again for a short spell around 2007, and was pleased to reacquaint with Terry, who was living in Denver, CO, as he still is. He was finally able to purchase this painting from me, although I did give him a hell of a deal on it. He's got medical expenses and all, you know. Anyway, Terry and I are really closer friends now than we were back then. As I've said, at the time he was really just an amusing guy that I'd see around in the late hours of the night near the campus in Norman.

 

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