Terence Koh (born 1977 in Beijing, China ) is a Canadian artist who has also worked under the alias "asianpunkboy". The artist's work spans a range of media, including drawing, sculpture, video, performance, and the internet. Originally working under the alias asianpunkboy, Koh designed zines and custom-made books. His recent work has expanded to include durational performances, complex installations, and the exploration of natural ecosystems. Much of his diverse work involves queer,

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

, and pornographic sensibilities. In 2008, he was listed in '' Out'' magazine's "Out 100 People of the Year".

Early life and education

Koh was raised in Mississauga, Ontario, and now lives in Northern California. He is a Chinese-Canadian artist who received degrees from the

Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co ...

, Vancouver and The

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...

, Ontario.

Career

Koh's work was included in the Whitney Biennial (2004), and the Yokohama Triennial (2008). In 2008, he was a finalist for the Sobey Award. His work was the subject of solo exhibitions at MUSAC, León, Spain (2008);

Schirn Kunsthalle The Schirn Kunsthalle is a Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, located in the old city between the Römer and the Frankfurt Cathedral. The Schirn exhibits both modern and contemporary art. It is the main venue for temporary art exhibitions in F ...

, Frankfurt, Germany (2008); the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

, New York (2007);

Kunsthalle Zürich The Kunsthalle Zürich is a contemporary art exhibition centre in Zurich, Switzerland. It is located on Limmatstrasse, near the city centre. A number of temporary exhibitions are organized each year. In 2014 Daniel Baumann replaced Beatrix Ruf ...

, Switzerland (2006); and the

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austr ...

, Austria (2005). His work is in the permanent collections of institutions such as the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York; the

, New York; and the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

, London, UK. Koh's work has been associated with New Gothic Art. In ''nothingtoodoo'', his first solo show at the

Mary Boone Gallery Mary Boone (born c. 1951/1952) is an American art dealer and collector. Life Boone moved to New York City at the age of 19 from Erie, Pennsylvania to a working class family of Egyptian immigrants. She studied Art History at Rhode Island School o ...

, Koh, "dressed in white pajamalike clothes, slowly circl sa beautiful cone-shaped pile of rocky solar salt — 8 feet high and 24 feet across — on his knees." So

Roberta Smith Roberta Smith (born 1948) is co-chief art critic of ''The New York Times'' and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is the first woman to hold that position. Early life Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. Smith studied a ...

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."Roberta Smith, Smith, Roberta
"Crawling for Peace in a Not-Quite Salt Mine"
''The New York Times'', 11 March 2011, p. C21, NY ed. Retrieved 11 March 2011. 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. In the tradition of

Piero Manzoni Piero Manzoni di Chiosca e Poggiolo, better known as Piero Manzoni (July 13, 1933 – February 6, 1963) was an Italian artist best known for his ironic approach to avant-garde art. Often compared to the work of Yves Klein, his own work antici ...

, Koh has gold-plated and sold his own feces for a total of $500,000.00 to collectors."Financial Crisis Changing Art Gallerist's Approach To Buying, Selling Gold-Plated Excrement"
''Huffington Post'', 11-18-08 10:58 PM updated 12-19-08 05:12 AM. Substantially quoted from: Morgan, Spencer
"The Galley Matador"
, ''The New York Observer'', 18 November, 2008 3:06 p.m. Retrieved 11 March 2011.

References

External links

Moran Bondaroff: Terence Koh

Koh Birdy
– Terence Koh Project
''New York'' magazine article (01/2007)

''LA Times'' article (05/2008)

''Times'' article (01/2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koh, Terence 1977 births Living people Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian video artists Canadian contemporary artists 21st-century Canadian sculptors Canadian male sculptors 21st-century Canadian male artists Emily Carr University of Art and Design alumni Canadian LGBT artists Gay artists Canadian performance artists