Terence Koh
Encyclopedia
Terence Koh is a Canadian artist. Koh creates handmade books and zines, prints, photograph
s, sculpture
s, performances, and installations. Much of his diverse work involves queer, punk, and pornographic sensibilities. Koh has also worked under the alias "asianpunkboy", though it appears that name has been retired as of 2009. In 2008, he was listed in Out
magazine's "Out 100 People of the Year".
, and lives in New York City
. He is a Chinese-Canadian artist
who received his Bachelor degree from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design
, Vancouver.
in 2008. He has exhibited widely in the United States and abroad. Koh's work has been the subject of several major solo exhibitions including Love for Eternity, a mid-career retrospective at MUSAC (Leon, Spain); Captain Buddha, Schirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt, Germany); Dirty Blind God, de Pury & Luxembourg, (Zurich, Switzerland); Terence Koh Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York).
In the tradition of Piero Manzoni
, Koh has gold-plated and sold his own feces
for a total of $500,000.00 to collectors. He is represented by Javier Peres
of Peres Projects Gallery in Los Angeles
and Berlin
, and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg
and Paris
.
In 2008 he created the Terence Koh Show on YouTube
, in which visitors to his home are either interviewed by Koh, or interview Koh themselves. Each show is usually not more than a few minutes in length. Some episodes are more abstract, such as when he plays the video forward but edits the sound to play backwards. Notable guests have included Marina Abramović
, Hans Ulrich Obrist
, and most recently, Lady GaGa
. In the clip with Lady Gaga titled "88 pearls", Koh counts a bowl of pearls with Lady GaGa, who is wearing a costume inspired by Koh's sculpture from his project Boy By The Sea. Koh's affiliation with the pop star began at the 2010 Grammys, where Lady GaGa performed on a piano designed by Koh specifically for the occasion.
Koh's work has been associated with New Gothic Art
.
In nothingtoodoo, his first solo show at the Mary Boone Gallery, Koh, "dressed in white pajamalike clothes, slowly circl[es] a beautiful cone-shaped pile of rocky solar salt — 8 feet high and 24 feet across — on his knees." So Roberta Smith
described the work in an appreciative March, 2011, review. "This is performance art reduced to a bare and relentless rite in a space that has been stripped down to a kind of temple. (Its regal proportions help.) ... Maybe the work is an extended apology for past bad-boy behavior."
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s, performances, and installations. Much of his diverse work involves queer, punk, and pornographic sensibilities. Koh has also worked under the alias "asianpunkboy", though it appears that name has been retired as of 2009. In 2008, he was listed in Out
Out (magazine)
Out is a popular gay and lesbian fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any gay monthly publication in the United States. It carries itself in a similar editorial manner to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was published by PlanetOut Inc...
magazine's "Out 100 People of the Year".
Early life and education
Koh was raised in Mississauga, OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, and lives in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He is a Chinese-Canadian artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who received his Bachelor degree from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design
Emily Carr University of Art and Design is a public post-secondary University located on Granville Island in Vancouver, BC, Canada...
, Vancouver.
Career
Terence Koh was shortlisted for the Sobey Art AwardSobey Art Award
The Sobey Art Award is Canada's largest prize for young Canadian artists. It is named after Canadian businessperson and art collector Frank H. Sobey, who established The Sobey Art Foundation...
in 2008. He has exhibited widely in the United States and abroad. Koh's work has been the subject of several major solo exhibitions including Love for Eternity, a mid-career retrospective at MUSAC (Leon, Spain); Captain Buddha, Schirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt, Germany); Dirty Blind God, de Pury & Luxembourg, (Zurich, Switzerland); Terence Koh Whitney Museum of American Art, (New York).
In the tradition of Piero Manzoni
Piero Manzoni
Piero Manzoni was an Italian artist best known for his ironic conceptual art. Influenced by the work of Yves Klein, his own work anticipated, and directly influenced, the work of a generation of younger Italian artists brought together by the critic Germano Celant in the first Arte Povera...
, Koh has gold-plated and sold his own feces
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
for a total of $500,000.00 to collectors. He is represented by Javier Peres
Javier Peres
Javier S. Peres is a contemporary art dealer who operates Peres Projects which currently has 2 locations in Berlin and previously had locations in Los Angeles, California; Athens, Greece; and a project space in New York which he operated in conjunction with Terence KOH named Asia Song...
of Peres Projects Gallery in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
In 2008 he created the Terence Koh Show on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, in which visitors to his home are either interviewed by Koh, or interview Koh themselves. Each show is usually not more than a few minutes in length. Some episodes are more abstract, such as when he plays the video forward but edits the sound to play backwards. Notable guests have included Marina Abramović
Marina Abramovic
Marina Abramović is a Belgrade-born New York-based Serbian performance artist who began her career in the early 1970s. Active for over three decades, she has recently begun to describe herself as the “grandmother of performance art.” Abramović's work explores the relationship between performer and...
, Hans Ulrich Obrist
Hans Ulrich Obrist
Hans Ulrich Obrist is a contemporary art curator, critic and historian of art. He is currently Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London...
, and most recently, Lady GaGa
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
. In the clip with Lady Gaga titled "88 pearls", Koh counts a bowl of pearls with Lady GaGa, who is wearing a costume inspired by Koh's sculpture from his project Boy By The Sea. Koh's affiliation with the pop star began at the 2010 Grammys, where Lady GaGa performed on a piano designed by Koh specifically for the occasion.
Koh's work has been associated with New Gothic Art
New Gothic Art
-Manifesto:The Neo Gothic Art Manifesto was written by gothic artist Charles Moffat in 2001, who also coined the term "Neo Gothic" in an effort to differentiate it from gothic architecture...
.
In nothingtoodoo, his first solo show at the Mary Boone Gallery, Koh, "dressed in white pajamalike clothes, slowly circl[es] a beautiful cone-shaped pile of rocky solar salt — 8 feet high and 24 feet across — on his knees." So Roberta Smith
Roberta Smith
Roberta Smith is an art critic for the New York Times and a lecturer on contemporary art.Born in New York City and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, Smith studied at Grinnell College in Iowa. Her career in the arts started in 1968 while an undergraduate summer intern at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in...
described the work in an appreciative March, 2011, review. "This is performance art reduced to a bare and relentless rite in a space that has been stripped down to a kind of temple. (Its regal proportions help.) ... Maybe the work is an extended apology for past bad-boy behavior."