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Thomas Kong photographed by Dan Miller in January 2023

The interior of Kim’s Corner Food. Photo by Dan Miller, 2015.

Remembering Thomas Kong

On May 1, 2023, Chicago lost one of its great artists: Thomas Kong. We had the pleasure of working with Thomas a little in 2017 when we published the booklet At Work with Thomas Kong by Dan Miller, with illustrations by Ruby T. Thomas Kong’s collaborator Dan Miller recently wrote this reflection:


Thomas Kong died in the early hours of May 1st, 2023. The news was not a surprise, but a part of me is incredulous he won’t be making collages at Kim’s Corner Food every day until the end of time. The constancy of his life and work was one of the things that made Thomas a special figure. You always knew you could stop by any day to chat, buy a snack, and marvel at his singular practice. To be in the store with him was to witness not so much a daily grind as a daily shimmy; a restless dance of the eyes, hands and heart.


I met Thomas in 2014, soon after moving to Chicago. He was charismatic, compelling, and curious. There was something magical about the way we became friends: we were mutually opportunistic, with total sincerity. Thomas changed completely the way I saw art, and I opened a door to a community he only sensed might exist. When I took up his idea that we should “start a gallery”, we became co-conspirators in a deliberately experimental project. The Back Room, which operated from 2015-19, became a little solar system in Rogers Park. If you got close, it was hard to resist falling into Thomas’s orbit. And he relished it. The movement of so many genuine and playful artists in and out of the store changed his life profoundly in its later years.


Thomas was irrepressible, funny, and generous. He would often shove dollar bills, or candy, into my pocket as I was leaving the store. He had a great big puckish smile, and an infectious almost-childlike energy. But he could also be stubborn and elusive. Anyone who met him knows he lived by the commandment ‘Be Happy’, a phrase that appears thousands of times over in his work. I suspect this was as much an instruction for himself as it was for his audience. Whatever its motivation, it worked on me, and I know it worked on many of you.


Kim’s Corner Food was one of the more incredible and immersive art experiences one could have in Chicago. The store was so densely packed with Thomas Kong’s collages that the products frequently blended into the art and vice versa. Because the store had bodega hours and not gallery hours, you could visit at all sorts of odd times and find yourself inside this world of color and form with Thomas at the center of that paper storm, joyfully cutting and gluing behind the counter next to the register, or laying things out on the surface of a freezer case. A broken fridge for pop cans was no big loss—the glass doors could simply be used to display more collages.


The booklet we made with Dan was a production. It was a mix of digital and RISO printing that we took to the bindery and once collated and bound, we had to mount business cards Dan designed with Thomas inside two little stick-on plastic sleeves that went on the inside front and back covers. After that, Thomas Kong was handed the print run and he stuck “Be Happy” stickers inside nearly every booklet. Most of the booklets had three of those stickers adhered inside—frequently in very non-obvious locations where they would have less presence than we imagined. Thomas was a real chain smoker (inside his shop, no less) so the booklets came with a free second-hand smoke scent as well. The booklet has been out of print for a few years, but we are happy to finally offer a free PDF download of the digital version for you to read.  


- Marc & Brett

Thomas Kong’s incredible art practice and spirit will never be forgotten. We are happy to share a free digital version of this booklet to help preserve the memory of his work, and to continue to tell the story of Dan Miller's beautiful collaboration with this great artist. 

Chicago Zine Fest & Other Fairs

This Saturday from 11 AM - 6 PM, we’ll return to Plumber’s Union Hall (1340 W. Washington Blvd) for the 12th edition of Chicago Zine Fest, which is happening for the first time since that thing that still hasn’t gone away. Consider wearing a mask and visit our table for all of the latest from Half Letter Press, Temporary Services, Public Collectors, and Breakdown Break Down Press. The event is free as always.

Thanks to everyone that found us at the Columbus Art Book Fair last weekend. After that event and this one, we’ll hit California for the San Francisco Art Book Fair in July (our first time participating!) followed by Los Angeles in August. Maybe something else will happen before then. Who knows?

NEW, RECENT & RANDOM

Almost two years since the last issue, Library Excavations from Public Collectors is back with a new issue tackling the US Patent and Trademark Office gazettes. Trademark themes explored here are: Birth, Life, Air, Metal, Love, Sex, Food, Fire, Earth, Water, Time, Shit, and Death. 

This booklet traces the richness and diversity of artist Kate O'Shea's response to the Just City Counter Narrative Neighbourhood award 2020-2022. The residency—located in studio 468 and supported by Common Ground—was bolstered by a wide range of established community development organizations with a vibrant history of community-based cultural practice.

Building on our previous publications like Book Waste Book, Self-Reliance Library and What Problems Can Artist Publishers Solve? we invited 7 artist publishers to reflect on their experiences of waste in the making of their books. They describe problems they faced in the past and are working to avoid in the future, lessons learned, changes they are making or have made to make their work less wasteful, interesting things they do with waste materials, and tips or tricks to have a less ecologically damaging publishing practice.

Our planet's poorest people are also its largest construction force. Whether recent immigrants to growing cities or the last residents in shrinking cities, these occupiers have a great need and, often, no choice but to self-build. They use whatever can be found to create places to live, to work, and perhaps hide. Leftover Rightunder highlights selected projects from ten years of Wes Janz's efforts to showcase these people's work in the design and education communities of which he is a member. 

What do artists book libraries built into airstream trailers, bar bikes, and giant windmill blades on wheels have to do with the bypassing traditional forms of social mobility? How can we use mobile projects to reimagine urban and rural spaces that are normally closed to creative gestures and public services? Compiled by Temporary Services and waiting to be read by You.

“Slave Nation is an aesthetic and poetic examination of displacement, gentrification, rampant property development, #occupy, and resistance."

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. We remain grateful for your support and interest and we hope we’ll see you soon. - Half Letter Press (Brett Bloom & Marc Fischer)