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Ho Jae Kim’s Civil Art Returns to Christie’s With a Million-Dollar Milestone in Sight

Founded in 2022, the organization has grown from a grassroots idea into a nonprofit supporting AAPI artists through exhibitions, professional support, mentorship and community partnerships.

Asian Americans account for only 1 percent of reported cultural engagement, making them the least supported community in New York. Civil Art—an organization that supports AAPI artists, art writers, and cultural professionals—was founded on a desire to change that. Behind it is Korean American artist Ho Jae Kim, who founded Civil Art in the aftermath of the pandemic while pursuing his career as a painter. Since then, he has grown the organization into one with an impact that extends beyond the art world. Between Civil Art’s founding in 2022 and 2025, the organization has raised $755,832 without a development fund, solely through community support. It has created more than 140 opportunities for AAPI creatives and welcomed more than 2,000 visitors to its exhibitions and events. (Of the total funds raised, more than $150,000 was granted to local community organizations working directly with Asian Americans.) And its Community Platform has produced more than 30 online articles, 14 educational events, six exhibitions, four major community activation events and two print publications, creating new spaces for expression, sharing and visibility.

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Civil Art grew out of Kim’s conviction that art is not simply visual culture but an extension of humanity, philosophy and communal life. “The way I learned to love art was not just through the visuals, but also through the history of how people really bleed into something, to the point where they build communities, share ideas, and ultimately change how people see the world,” Kim tells Observer as we walk through his Brooklyn studio. “I have always been interested in how art can contribute to society, to the way we feel and the way we think.” This way of thinking about creation informs his own studio practice, which he sees as a contemporary way of revisiting humanism. “Artists do not always have the ability to bridge that encounter with the public.”

From June 18 to 30, Civil Art is hosting “Luminous Path,” a curated selling exhibition at Christie’s, part of an ongoing partnership that began in 2022. Curated by Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander, Kathy Huang, Peter Kahng, Ho Jae Kim and Carla Shen, the show features artwork by promising and established names from Asia and its diaspora, with pieces that consider the exhibition’s theme in both material and concept.

Kim’s experience as an immigrant has shaped the organization’s mission. While studying at RISD, art history made the world feel limitless, but in the wider world, he encountered a harsher reality: “You almost believed you could do it, that you could change people, but outside of the classroom, it was very different—especially for someone who grew up with financial and family circumstances like mine.” He saw firsthand how difficult it was to access the resources, opportunities and networks needed to build a creative career. “The path to........

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