Koak

Overview

Koak (b. 1981) lives and works in San Francisco. The artist Koak creates emotionally charged portraits, often of female figures, imbuing her subjects with a sense of agency and inner life to challenge patriarchal views of the feminine. Engaging hierarchies of gender as well as form, Koak interrogates commonly held cultural assumptions defining women as passive objects of desire. Drawing on the visual vocabulary of comics and often translating this into sculptural form, the exquisite technique Koak is known for allows her line-making to appear beautifully effortless, but is in fact the result of a rare type of generous and hand-made master craftsmanship.

Documents

Works

Koak
California Landscape #1, 2023
Flashe, acrylic, and charcoal from the California fires on linen
79 x 118 1/2 in
200.7 x 301 cm
Koak
Swan Song, 2023
Bronze
24 x 15 x 20 in
61 x 38.1 x 50.8 cm
Edition of 6 plus 2 artist's proofs
Koak
Bench, 2022
Cast bronze and slate
34 1/2 x 86 x 31 in
87.6 x 218.4 x 78.7 cm
Edition of 3
Koak
Facade, 2022
Oil, acrylic, Flashe, and graphite on canvas
108 1/2 x 84 in
275.6 x 213.4 cm
Koak
Little Tuber, 2022
Flashe and graphite on canvas
61 x 48 1/2 in
154.9 x 123.2 cm
Koak
Sun Dour, 2022
Bronze
15 x 15 x 10 in
38.1 x 38.1 x 25.4 cm
Edition of 12 plus 1 artist's proof
Koak
June, 2021
Flashe, acrylic, oil, graphite, chalk, pastel, charcoal, casein on canvas
77 1/2 x 62 in
196.8 x 157.5 cm
Koak
Strange Loop, 2021
Bronze
64 x 50 x 74 in
162.6 x 127 x 188 cm
Edition of 6 plus 2 artist's proofs
Koak
Bridge, 2020
Acrylic, graphite, chalk, pastel, pigment and oil on linen mounted to panel
77 1/2 x 62 in
196.8 x 157.5 cm
Koak
Having Feelings, 2020
Acrylic, charcoal, chalk, graphite and pastel on canvas
84 x 108 1/2 in
213.4 x 275.6 cm
Koak
To Sleep, To Dream, 2020
Graphite, chalk from the cliffs of Seven Sisters, and casein on fawn rag paper
15 x 11 1/4 in
38.1 x 28.6 cm
Koak
Trimmed, 2020
Oil, acrylic, and graphite on muslin
15 x 12 in
38.1 x 30.5 cm
Koak
What Is You in a Lapse, 2020
Graphite, charcoal, ink, and casein on pearl grey rag paper
15 x 11 in
38.1 x 27.9 cm
Framed: 17 3/4 x 13 3/4 in
45 x 34.9 cm