K. Chin
(1920-1995)
I have put the following together from several sources: a flyer published in the early 80's, words from his sons, and notes on the back of a K. Chin cardboard jigsaw puzzle box.
K. Chin, of Chinese ancestry, was born in Portland, Oregon in 1920, where he received his initial art training at the Portland Museum School of Art and the University of Oregon.
K. Chin, during World War II, served as a mechanical draftsman with the US Air Corps, at which time he sharpened his skill at rendering detailed images. He served for 4-1/2 years. He illustrated magazine covers for US Army, American Legion, and later, Cue Magazine and Newsweek.
K. Chin for twenty years was an advertising art director. I know he did work for at least three years for the Anacin account.
Sometime in 1950's or 1960's K. Chin was in France where he took photos which were used for some paintings at a studio he had in New York.
After his advertising career, K. Chin worked for two years with Norcross Greeting Cards, and he opened an art gallery on West 57th St. in New York where he had regular exhibits. Certainly in the 1960's and probably into the early 1970's. This gallery was very likely space within Bergdorf Goodman which has been located on Fifth Avenue between West 57th and 58th for many decades. He won several awards for his art, including the New York Art Directors Painting Award (no current information available about the history of this award). K. Chin also exhibited at the Gemini Gallery in Palm Beach, Florida, a gallery which apparently no longer exists.
K. Chin eventually opened a small wholesale business and gallery in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. After suffering a stroke in 1985 the gallery was closed. His two sons, Randall and Scott, continue to use the business name for their wholesale business.
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The follow are comments written by the artist (I think in the early 1980's):
"By my own admission, I'm an artist who likes to paint subjects that bring pleasure to the most people. I do occasionally paint pictures with biting social observations.
"I have painted a variety of subjects ranging from animals, flowers and Victorian houses, to Americana. My favorite images to paint presently are the Unicorn and the Rainbow. Many people are attracted to the fantasy and magic the Unicorn stands for. The symbol of the Unicorn is certainly very special to me!
"My painting career was preceded by twenty years as an advertising art director, in New York City, working on a wide range of products. When my series of highly successful commercials for a leading headache tablet was voted 'the worst on the air', three years in a row, I felt it was time to switch."
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Contact
K Chin Gallery
PO Box 3394
Carmel, CA 93921