ART

TERENCE KOH ON DREAM

By Crash redaction

TERENCE KOH INTERVIEW ON DREAM: THE MULTI-TALENTED ARTIST IS COLLABORATING WITH ITALIAN BRAND PEUTEREY FOR THEIR 10TH ANNIVERSARY. STAYING TRUE TO HIS AESTHETIC, HE RESTYLED TWO OF THE BRAND’S ICONIC JACKETS: THE GUARDIAN AND THE SCEPTRE. HE MET WITH US TO SHARE HIS VISION OF ART AND THE ARTIST IN THE 21ST CENTURY, TALK ABOUT JOINING THE SEAN KELLY GALLERY IN NEW YORK, AND GIVE US HIS TAKE ON POLITICS AND RELIGION.

Interview by Armelle Leturcq

First things first: how old are you?

I can’t give my age because i always say a true lady never tells her age! Today, we all live in the 21st century, and even though different people were born in different eras, we can communicate with people around the world, watch movies on the internet, and discover a lot of new things. There are a lot of opportunities for an artist, too: i’m sitting here and i’ve just done a jacket; in two weeks i’ll be doing a performance in hong kong. It’s very exciting. Some artists only do sculptures or paintings or photography, but i like to be able to try different media.

The situtation is quite new since, 20 years ago, painting and photography didn’t mix. Photography wasn’t deemed to be on the same plane as contemporary art.

Yes, the audience for art was so small, and now here we are. Today, art is a part of culture and it’s great: the more, the merrier. In the end art is a useless thing, but it’s positive because you are free. When you work in fashion you have to think of the body; when you direct a movie, you have to pay attention to the lights, the shadows. Art can be anything, there are no limitations. You can create it using only yourself.

Do you think of yourself as a work of art?

I’m not sure. I hope so, but it doesn’t make me any more special. Maybe some people are just more sensitive to art and therefore represent and embrace it and somehow become works of art themselves.

Are you familiar with the work of James Lee Byars? I think your work is reminiscent of his, with the use of white, for example.

Yes, he’s one of my favorite artists. It’s true, but james lee byars is more serious than i am! I never met him, unfortunately. I think all artists, even if they are dead, stay alive. It’s not just about images, but also how feelings and energies connect and go through different times. My favorite painting is still starry night by vincent van gogh. Artists themselves survive through the generations.

Your work is related to dreams. It always has something dreamy and positive about it.

Especially right now. Everybody needs to sleep. I have a ritual: every day when i wake up i draw something. When you wake up, you are entering the conscious state, but you are not exactly there yet: it’s always then that i do my best work. I put these drawings on my website and you can see at what time i did them, etc.

So, you do an artwork a day.

Yes, and when the drawing is done the job is done for me. My drawing is on my website so i feel free. I only have to work on my projects.

Do you have a big team working with you?

It depends. Right now there are only two people. I like to keep a small team, but when we enter big projects then more people start working with us. We are going to be very busy soon because i am showing at the sean kelly gallery in new york: it’s my first time showing in new york in 10 years. I am going to be traveling the world, researching the latest technologies in every field: chemistry, mathematics, filmmaking. I will visit nasa, mit, and then develop some sort of machines to highlight what it’s like to live right now. It’s a really big project that will open in 2013. It’s exciting and it gives me a reason to travel and meet a lot of different people.

Will it only be presented at the Sean Kelly gallery?

It’s going to start off in the gallery. It’s such an ambitious project about what it means to live as a human; and because it explores so many different topics, i’m hoping to find a new chemistry, new materials that both absorb and reflect because i always say that an artist is both a mirror and a sponge: a mirror of society and you absorb as much as possible. So i want to find a material that does that as well, and use it in my sculptures and then maybe people will apply the material to fashion or industrial design. So, at a latter point it may be presented in other places.

Do you think you are changing something in the world? Are you politically active?

I’m not « political » myself, but i would vote democrat if i had to. I say i am not « political » because i think i first have to be responsible for what my politics are for myself, internally. If i was political it would probably limit me in a way to associate with a certain party or a certain ideology; being unpolitical makes me free and it is part of my job to be as free as possible.

How do you think the audience reacts when they see your work? Do you think it opens their minds?

I certainly hope so because i try to keep an open mind at all times. I try to be accepting, almost like a child: that’s what i’m trying to be as i am getting older. The media and certain people are quick to put you in a box, and then it’s easy to think « i’m an artist, i only want to paint, or sculpt, etc. » hopefully by taking different paths i can open my mind to others, to all others.

How do you think the audience reacts when they see your work? Do you think it opens their minds?

Is religion important for you?

Not religion, but spirituality because nowadays there is so much more information surrounding us. It’s overwhelming, you have youtube, you have twitter, facebook. What is the meaning of these things? What is the meaning of us on the internet? You connect yourself to the universe and spirituality is the same thing, in a way. It’s so important that my work create a sense of wonder in the universe.

Are you attached to material things?

I would love to become a monk and have no material possessions; unfortunately i am not one and i love beautiful things. But material things are very subjective, when you look at diamonds and gold, some people are attracted to them because they’re expensive and they tell something about the person who possesses them; but even when you don’t consider its value, a diamond is a beautiful material. There is this story about a japanese monk whose patron ordered him to build him a tea house out of gold. At first the monk did not want to do it because a tea house is supposed to be humble. He did it anyway and when people looked at it, they did not think « this tea house looks expensive, it is made of gold, » they thought « this tea house is beautiful, it is made of gold, » because it made your skin glow: everything in it was gorgeous.

How did you meet the founders of peuterey?

Caroline corbetta introduced me to them. She is a curator and introduces artists to different labels. It’s a really nice project and i’m really happy. I think fashion is different from art: it’s putting on clothes and zipping them up, it’s about the body. And now someone in brazil or china can buy something that came out of my mind instead of going to an exhibition. They can buy a jacket, wear it, and experience it, not as art, but as something else. This is why i love collaboration, and it’s another part of why i’m excited to live in the 21st century. It’s really positive and we have to be positive.

Interview from Crash #60