Installation view of Adansonias at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris via gallery’s website
Terence Koh, a controversial Canadian multimedia artist, has premiered his first solo show with Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris. The enigmatic exhibition cum installation cum operatic performance in two parts distinctly embodies Koh’s ouevre. The gallery is transformed via the artist’s multitude of references to mythology, identity, power, religion, fashion and sexuality. In addition to the time-based pieces Koh presented on October 6th and October 22nd, on display are various objects and wall pieces executed in the artist’s signature white monochrome style. An amalgam of drawings, photographs, and collages document the experimental opera project and reflect the influence of Parisian architecture and sensibility on Koh’s art.
A photograph of Adansonias opera performance staged by Terence Koh and 8 white-clad participants via Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
More text and images after the jump…
Drawings and photographs represent physical memoirs and love notes to Paris created by Koh during his stay via Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac
Terence Koh, also known as asianpunkboy, earned his sensationalist reputation with such acts as gold-plating and selling his own excrement for $500,000 at Art Basel 2006, exhibiting nothing at an opening show of Javier Peres’s gallery in Los Angeles and exhibiting a thin line of bright light in the lobby of The Whitney Museum. Picked up early in his career by the infamous Charles Saatchi, Koh’s career quickly sped into motion with shows and performance acts at Royal Academy of Art in London, Kunsthalle Zürich, and Deitch Projects downtown. In Adansonias, Koh continues to explore his conceptual and symbolic ideas drawing inspirational elements from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, immersing the audiences into a bizarre universe where anything seems possible.
Portrait of Terence Koh as Andy Warhol via Art Magazin
Postcard to a Rose in Paris, 2009. 53 units, 4 x 6 in each. Via Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac
Postcard to a Rose in Paris, 2009. One of a 53 piece work. Via Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac
Postcard to a Rose in Paris, 2009. Via Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac
Postcard to a Rose in Paris, 2009. Via Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac
Postcard to a Rose in Paris, 2009. Via Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac
Daodao, 2009. An object that is part of the installation via Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac
Postcard to a Rose in Paris, 2009. A photograph of Adansonias performance that took place on October 6th, 2009 via Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac
Terence Koh’s ‘Adansonias’ runs at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris October 6 through November 14, 2009.
Related links:
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac presents “Adansonias”
Brimming From a Ray of Light, the Glare of Elusiveness [NY Times]
ASIANPUNKBOY: THE WHOLE FAMILY [Javier Peres Projects]
