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Edition of 16 copies (+ 3 AP), each hand-engraved in a unique way,
signed and numbered by Terence Koh.
Born in 1977 in Beijing, Koh grew up in Canada, studying at the Emily Carr Institue of Art and Design Vancouver, making his first steps into the art world with zine publications, prints, photographs and performances under his then alias Asianpunkyboy. He was an aggressive, flamboyant and spiritual youngster, dressed in all-white, sometimes fur, sometimes pajama-like clothes. His punky approach led him straight to sex, drugs and metal music, or New Gothic Art as the press back then labeled both it and him.
His work uses diverse materials and highly existential subjects. From glass, porcelain, plastic and lights to blood and piss, from animal figures, puppets and living birds to sugar, vegetables and powder, the range of materials is wide and the choices powerful. His best known work so far may be his gold-plated shit which he sold and send out around the world, aligning himself with playful and knowing artists like Piero Manzoni and movie director Pier Paolo Pasolini. Then there was his 24-foot-long urinal, a contribution to a 2009 group show at New York’s Mary Boone gallery, a clear homage to Marcel Duchamp.
But as significant as these works might be, the real Koh is to be found behind the sturm und drang. When he reduces everything to the barest essentials you find Koh opening his temple of love, engaging in a huge celebration of gay pornography, of young male bodies in their full celebration, free of moralising, ideological or other restrictions. Celebrations of pure freedom, in other words.
Of course hedonism also has a narrative arc and this lust-driven journey quickly lead him to the dualities that lie within all life. No life without death, no youth without decay, no beauty without deformity, no freedom without control, no sexuality without repression and of course, no individuality without society. So the bad-boy-behaviour began to fade. The new incarnation of Terence Koh finds inspiration instead in healthier places, in nature and privacy. The results we can both hear and see in this Edition, and they connect perfectly with his earlier works, while bringing in a new tonality, a happier, more optimistic one.
This meeting led to a long-term email exchange – and as Terene Koh had experimented with metal music in the past, we naturally started to plan an Edition Fieber project that could bring together his art and music in one form.
The journey is now complete and looking at the Terence Koh Edition Fieber pieces on my table right now, I see something totally different from what we talked about in the beginning. It’s not my intention to deconstruct the mystical process of generating a piece of art of course. I merely mention this in passing, to give you all an impression of Terence Koh’s method. The man choses his steps, his manoeuvres with great care and thought. At the end you feel that he and nobody else knows the right tempo. „Hiroshima Dreams“ was recorded as the first song for this project together with Jack Donoghue, a member of the witch-house-project Salem, as early as 2012 in a hotel room in Chicago on what the arists describe as a very wild weekend. The song plays as much with Native American music-traditions as with mystic ghost-session approaches. Maybe there’s more to come with this genre?
For the second song, „Song for home“, Koh went into the woods north of New York, close to what’s now his new home, and sung, inspired by a full moon and mushrooms. Its a strikingly beautiful song, sending warmness and hope out in the world.
The other two musical contributions to this Edition are constantly changing under the influence of a little diamond. With these two interpretations of „Diamond Music“, Terence Koh is trying to find an equivalent to the stimulation nature is constantly bringing into our lives. I feel it. Can you feel it too?
Thomas Venker, Edition Fieber
September 2014
“Song for Home“
“Hiroshima Dreams” (with Jack Donoghue)
signed and numbered by Terence Koh.
Terence Koh
Mention Terence Koh and a wide spectrum of art protagonists are called to mind… Dan Colen, Dash Snow, Klaus Biesenbach, Ryan McGinley, Lady Gaga and Marina Abramovic. As different as they are, they all played their unique part in New York’s hedonistic downtown art scene of the early noughties. And in the middle of it all, there was a young boy, ready to get excited: Terence Koh.Born in 1977 in Beijing, Koh grew up in Canada, studying at the Emily Carr Institue of Art and Design Vancouver, making his first steps into the art world with zine publications, prints, photographs and performances under his then alias Asianpunkyboy. He was an aggressive, flamboyant and spiritual youngster, dressed in all-white, sometimes fur, sometimes pajama-like clothes. His punky approach led him straight to sex, drugs and metal music, or New Gothic Art as the press back then labeled both it and him.
His work uses diverse materials and highly existential subjects. From glass, porcelain, plastic and lights to blood and piss, from animal figures, puppets and living birds to sugar, vegetables and powder, the range of materials is wide and the choices powerful. His best known work so far may be his gold-plated shit which he sold and send out around the world, aligning himself with playful and knowing artists like Piero Manzoni and movie director Pier Paolo Pasolini. Then there was his 24-foot-long urinal, a contribution to a 2009 group show at New York’s Mary Boone gallery, a clear homage to Marcel Duchamp.
But as significant as these works might be, the real Koh is to be found behind the sturm und drang. When he reduces everything to the barest essentials you find Koh opening his temple of love, engaging in a huge celebration of gay pornography, of young male bodies in their full celebration, free of moralising, ideological or other restrictions. Celebrations of pure freedom, in other words.
Of course hedonism also has a narrative arc and this lust-driven journey quickly lead him to the dualities that lie within all life. No life without death, no youth without decay, no beauty without deformity, no freedom without control, no sexuality without repression and of course, no individuality without society. So the bad-boy-behaviour began to fade. The new incarnation of Terence Koh finds inspiration instead in healthier places, in nature and privacy. The results we can both hear and see in this Edition, and they connect perfectly with his earlier works, while bringing in a new tonality, a happier, more optimistic one.
From Fieber with Love
In 1999 I started - as part of my journalistic work - my „Kochen mit“-series (“Cooking with...”), an long-running piece in which I invited artists, musicians round to my house to cook, drink and talk with them in a more private and personal setting. And so it was that I met Terence Koh for the first time back in 2011. In a cute twist of the concept, he asked me to come for food at his workspace in Canal Street, New York. The whole place seemed to be channelling the colour white, and Koh insisted that we also cook only with white ingredients: tofu, radishes, mushrooms cauliflower, marshmallows, coconut milk. A big challenge – and nobody, neither the photographer, Koh’s boyfriend or I were sure if this would lead to an edible conclusion… but we did it. At the end, there was nothing left. The soundtrack to our cooking session was „Ave Maria“ sung by Maria Callas, quite a night to remember.This meeting led to a long-term email exchange – and as Terene Koh had experimented with metal music in the past, we naturally started to plan an Edition Fieber project that could bring together his art and music in one form.
The journey is now complete and looking at the Terence Koh Edition Fieber pieces on my table right now, I see something totally different from what we talked about in the beginning. It’s not my intention to deconstruct the mystical process of generating a piece of art of course. I merely mention this in passing, to give you all an impression of Terence Koh’s method. The man choses his steps, his manoeuvres with great care and thought. At the end you feel that he and nobody else knows the right tempo. „Hiroshima Dreams“ was recorded as the first song for this project together with Jack Donoghue, a member of the witch-house-project Salem, as early as 2012 in a hotel room in Chicago on what the arists describe as a very wild weekend. The song plays as much with Native American music-traditions as with mystic ghost-session approaches. Maybe there’s more to come with this genre?
For the second song, „Song for home“, Koh went into the woods north of New York, close to what’s now his new home, and sung, inspired by a full moon and mushrooms. Its a strikingly beautiful song, sending warmness and hope out in the world.
The other two musical contributions to this Edition are constantly changing under the influence of a little diamond. With these two interpretations of „Diamond Music“, Terence Koh is trying to find an equivalent to the stimulation nature is constantly bringing into our lives. I feel it. Can you feel it too?
Thomas Venker, Edition Fieber
September 2014
Terence Koh: Diamond Music
“Song for Home“
“Hiroshima Dreams” (with Jack Donoghue)
Order Now!
This edition contains two vinyl 7″Singles with music by Terence Koh and Jack Donoghue. Each acryl box is hand-engraved in a unique way and signed and numbered by Terence Koh.E Edition of 16 copies (+ 3 AP)If you want to purchase additional copies of this edition please contact us.
© 2011 Fieber, Lankisch & Venker GBR. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions / AGBs