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 ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

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 Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films *Out (1957 film), ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 *Out (1982 film), ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander *O ...

'' magazine's "Out 100 People of the Year".

Early life and education

Koh was raised in

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

, Ontario, and now lives in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. He is a Chinese-Canadian artist who received degrees from the

Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design The Emily Carr University of Art and Design (stylized as Emily Carr University of Art + Design and abbreviated as ECU) is a public university of art school, art and design located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1925 as the Van ...

, Vancouver and The

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

, 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; it is part of Frankfurt's Museumsufer (Museum Riverbank). The Schirn exhibits both modern and contemporary art ...

, Frankfurt, Germany (2008); the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York (2007);

Kunsthalle Zürich The Kunsthalle Zürich is a kunsthalle (a contemporary art exhibition centre) in Zürich, Switzerland. Founded in 1985, it is located on Limmatstrasse, near the city centre. A number of temporary exhibitions are organized each year. Directors * ...

, Switzerland (2006); and the

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (; also known as the Union of Austrian Artists or ) is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian painters, graphic artists, sculptors and architects, including Josef Ho ...

, 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 (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York; the

, New York; and the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

, London, UK. Koh's work has been associated with

New Gothic Art New Gothic or Neo-Gothic is a contemporary art movement that emphasizes darkness and horror. Manifesto "The Art Manifesto" was written by Gothic subculture artist Charles Moffat in 2001, who also coined the term in an effort to differentiate i ...

. In ''nothingtoodoo'', his first solo show at the

Mary Boone Gallery Mary Boone (born 1952) is an American art dealer and collector. As the owner and director of the Mary Boone Gallery, she played an important role in the New York art market of the 1980s. Her first two artists, Julian Schnabel and David Salle, b ...

, 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 at the Times. Education and early life Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawre ...

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 (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 anticipated, and directly influenced ...

, Koh has gold-plated and sold his own

feces Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...

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 gay artists Canadian performance artists 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people