Terence Koh Makes a Grand Return to the Art World With New Show

Our favorite punk boy is back.

Terence Koh.
Photo: Courtesy of Patrick McMullan.

In 2014, artist Terence Koh, previously known as asianpunkboy, upended his life and moved to upstate New York. As the art world’s resident man about town, Rachel Corbett writing for Vulture was right at the time to be suspicious of his departure, stating, “We doubt this is the last we will hear from him.” Sure enough, Koh is New York City-bound for a show in May at Andrew Edlin Gallery.

For an artist who sold a gold-plated mound of his own feces for $500,000, threw parties in signature, all-white outfits with the likes of Lady Gaga, and crawled around a mountain of salt for eight hours a day over the course of a month, Koh’s debut return in “Bee Chapel” is sure to seize attention.

Press release for Terence Koh's new exhibition.<br>Photo: Courtesy of the Edlin Gallery.

Press release for Terence Koh’s new exhibition.
Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Edlin Gallery.

According to Alanna Martinez at the Observer, “Bee Chapel” will feature an apple tree and new collages crafted with beeswax. Additional details about the show, however, are nearly impossible to extract from the press release alone.

As pictured above, the document supplied by the gallery appears more like a Dadaist collage; it boasts not one but two quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr., an excerpt from the Washington Post, and a line using his signature “too” style: “We will power the whole show by sunlight using solar panels attached too outside of the gallery.”

The Joseph Cornell-like boxes on view will feature items such as “earth from the catskills,” “vintage envelopes from ferguson, missouri,” “stamps from conflict zone around the world,” “rock found on the top of a mountain,” and “naturally died bees.”

Terence Koh, <em>Bee Chapel</em>.<br>Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Edlin Gallery.

Terence Koh, Bee Chapel.
Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Edlin Gallery.

Koh’s return makes for an intriguing theater—especially considering the venue he chose. Andrew Edlin Gallery made news last summer for moving to the Lower East Side in a space on the Bowery, which is a stone’s throw away from Koh’s legendary former apartment/studio on Canal Street.


Follow Artnet News on Facebook:


Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.
Article topics