Bong Tae Kim (also known as Kim Bongtae) was born in South Korea in 1937. He graduated from the Dept. of Painting, Seoul National University in1961, after which he emigrated to the United States where he studied at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California during the 1960s.

During this period Kim developed an oeuvre composed of largely monochromatic prints employing variations of intaglio etching. Working in Los Angeles during the Sixties and early Seventies the artist established an enviable reputation for these intaglios. Through his studio, the Triad Workshop, a joint venture with printmakers Robin Vaccarino and Jean Burg, Kim became a frequent participant in international shows, printmaking expositions and museum installations.

Kim taught at several notable California institutions including the University of Southern California and the prestigious Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. While printing and teaching, he nurtured an entire generation of progressive West Coast printmakers, and, through his curating and organizing of printmaking exhibitions he forged a significant and vital link to the printmaking communities of the Pacific Rim, mostly with innovative and enthusiastic printmakers of Korea, but, also Japan, China, Europe and Indonesia.

In the early 1980s, after his children were grown, he returned to Korea where he lectured on Western art and printmaking at Seoul National University and Sungshin Women's University. He has had more than 31 solo exhibitions in Korea, Japan, USA and France, and many group exhibitions since 1963; participated in the 3rd Paris Biennale, Korean Modern Drawing Exhibition in New York, the 2nd International Modern Art Exhibition in LA, 88 Olympic Celebration Exhibition in Korea and the Korea-Japan Print Exchange Exhibition in Korea. Bong Tae Kim continues to reside in South Korea.