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February 01, 2007 | | Terence Koh |
Chinese-American artist Terence Koh works in a variety of media, including performance, sculpture, books, zines, Web sites and photography. Throughout the artist's career, references to punk culture, homosexuality and adolescence have been offered through a very personal vocabulary. The artist often focuses on ephemeral materials, employing tactile and sensuous qualities to many appropriated images and objects. For the sculpture called "These Decades that We never Sleep, black drums," Koh covers a drum kit with paint, ropes, insect parts and his own bodily fluid. Similar materials were used to create a full boudoir chandelier. Terence Koh graduated from Emily Carr Institute of Art in Vancouver. Since 2003, he has exhibited with Peres Projects in Los Angeles and Berlin four times, and, in 2006, he exhibited at the Kunsthalle Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland. Koh is currently exhibiting with the Whitney Museum in New York City through May, which is his first major U.S. solo museum exhibition.
Posted by Seth Curcio at February 1, 2007 12:00 AM | Permalink | E-mail This
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It took me a few days to really figure this one out. I had to keep coming back to it because I couldn't quite understand it, even after reading the post several times. Then, while in discussion about it, it dawned on me - the references to homosexuality, punk culture and the sheer phallic nature of the piece reminds me of some of Mapplethorpe�s work. The differences in the two artist's work might be in the approach each artist has decided to deliver the information to the viewer. While Koh uses time-sensitive and delicate materials such as insect parts and presents his work with a more subtle visual, Mapplethorpe sort of puts it in your face with a raw visual. Although both artists can present in the viewer some uncomfortable feelings, Koh seems to bring the viewer a message that makes them think before they feel and Mapplethorpe seem to be looking to grab an emotional reaction out of the viewer before they have time to think.
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