UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology FALL 2023 - Flipbook - Page 14
"Edge of the World" Kim Cogan
THERE'S NOT A BAD VIEW IN THIS CITY:
The paintings of Kim Cogan
I
met up with Kim Cogan in early-August at
Hashimoto Contemporary, his San Francisco
gallery that is part of the Minnesota Street
Project, an airy, multi-galleried building in the
revitalized Dogpatch neighborhood. Kim’s hair
and beard are starting to go salt-and-pepper and
his face is lightly creased with wrinkles. “We were
just kids!” I think—the last time I had seen Kim
was in summer of 2008 before I left San Francisco
for graduate school.
art journals. I’d been an admirer of his work for
some time, but when I met a client for drinks
at John Collins, a bar in SOMA, and saw his
massive 96” x 120” oil on canvas, “SF with Sunset,”
hanging above the bar, the client asked, “Why
don’t you represent this cat?” I set about to make
that a reality.
Although I was born in San Francisco, my family
moved away when I was two (I returned at 22),
but I consider myself a native San Franciscan.
And although Kim was born in Korea, he grew
up in the City and considers himself a native as
well. Part of the draw of Kim’s work is that he
paints what is iconic to those who have spent
enough time in San Francisco to know there isn’t
Full disclosure: I enticed Kim join the stable
of artists at Hespe Gallery, where I was the
Assistant Director, in 2007. He already had an
enviable career with collectors including the nowlate Robin Williams and interviews in respected
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