Thomas Kong (1950 - 2023) lived in Chicago, where he and his wife managed Kim’s Corner Food, a convenience store located in the city’s Rogers Park neighborhood. Working in collage and assemblage, Kong’s prolific production occurred entirely at the store during business hours: 7AM to 7PM, seven days a week. Kong received a degree in English Literature from Sogang University in 1972, and moved to the Chicago area in 1977. His work has appeared nationally and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include Arts For Sale at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo in conjunction with the Tokyo Art Book Fair 2023.
Thomas Kong was a prolific self-taught artist and an important figure in Chicago’s AAPI community, where he operated Kim's Corner Food, a locally venerated convenience store in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Over 17 years, Kong created and displayed a massive and always evolving volume of work during the many hours and days he spent at the store. The collages and assemblage pieces he made from repurposed advertising and inventory packaging reflected an uncanny sense of humor and optimism, with many incorporating his signature “Be Happy” stickers. Over 100 of these pieces are featured in the exhibition, many appearing on and attached to the same shelving they had occupied in situ at Kim’s Corner Food’s retail space, as well as in “The Back Room” of the store, which Kong used as an experimental project space and repository for his many thousands of works.