Korea’s Yonhap News takes some pride in Kim Chang-Il’s being named to ArtNews’s list of top 200 collectors:
The owner of Arario Gallery, which has its head office in Cheonan, South Korea, and branches in Seoul, Beijing and New York, Kim is also widely known as working artist C.I. Kim in the local art world.
Chairman of a transport company and a department store in Cheonan, about 92 kilometers from Seoul, Kim is one of the richest and most active art collectors in Korea. He made headlines in Britain when he purchased British artist Damien Hirst’s “Hymn” for US$2 million in 2004.Kim majored in business in college and has no professional art training. He was previously named among the U.S. magazine’s list of top collectors in 2006 and as one of the 100 most influential artists and collectors by London’s “Art Review” magazine in 2007.
S. Korean Named Among the World’s Top 200 Collectors by US Magazine (Yonhap News)
