If there is any doubt that New York-based artist Terence Koh has perfected the art of winsome provocateurship, it was put to rest upon reaching the terrace of his Shibuya penthouse hotel room, where a plastic, spermatoza-shaped chalice, filled with milky white liquid, lay innocuously on the artist's deck table. Metal wiring threaded through the white, smiley-face cap of the chalice connected the object to a string of pearl beads. Koh barely gave it a second glance as he busied himself with preparations to leave for Yokohama, where he is included in the Yokohama Triennale 2008, "Time Crevasse."
In only five years since his debut exhibition in Los Angeles with his exclusive dealer, Javier Peres, Koh has rocketed to art world fame. He is known for combining bling decadence with a monochrome, minimalist touch. He sent ripples of admiration through the New York art establishment with his untitled solo presentation at the Whitney Museum of American Art in early 2007 in which he installed a 4,000-watt floodlight in the ground floor gallery, blinding passersby.
Visiting for the third time, Koh was at ease in Japan, referring with idiosyncratic specificity to Tokyo as his "third-favorite city." He explained, in a baritone voice belying his wiry frame, "I like the sensibility here, even the fast food has an elegance in the way it is packaged and presented. And there is so much more density of people and information with all the signs, traffic and noises. It's very stimulating."