Thomas Kong, who died on Monday at 73, was the owner of Kim’s Corner Food in Rogers Park, a longtime bodega-style convenience store.
Thomas Kong was the owner of Kim’s Corner Food in Rogers Park, and an artist with a devoted following. He died May 1, 2023, at age 73.
Kong built spires out of bottles; used black plastic bags as palates; created collages of leaves and found objects; folded cigarette cartons into sculptures; tore Styrofoam into statues. “He would mail me some of the random things you could imagine,” said Lim, who became a close friend and helped Kong navigate through Chicago’s gallery scene.Kong rarely explained his compulsion to make art out of the materials around him.
Initially, after moving to the Midwest, he was embarrassed at being an English lit major unable to speak much English. He worked at a gas station and did odd jobs. He also started a small shoe repair business in Hammond, Indiana. That blossomed into another shoe repair business in Skokie. And a liquor store in Burbank. And a dry cleaning service in Streamwood. He lost money when those businesses declined.
“What was inspiring about Thomas was, like many artists, being creative was necessary to his well-being,” said Nathan Smith of Roman Susan. “It drove his days. He worked in this really meditative, almost prayerful way, and believed he was beautifying his world.”That was reflected in the “Be Happy” stickers he attached to his art and most of the surfaces of the store. He saw it as a tidy, two-word summation of Jesus’ proverb-like Beatitudes.
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