Koak: Letter to Myself (when the world is on fire)

Jan 17 - Feb 25, 2023
  • Altman Siegel is proud to announce, Letter to Myself (when the world is on fire) an exhibition of new paintings, drawings, and sculptures by San Francisco based artist Koak. This marks Koak's second solo exhibition with the gallery.

  • The artist’s signature mastery of line rendering and her complex, layered relationship to comics, character development, and gender-normative aesthetic roles are presented through an impressive new body of work. The exquisite technique Koak is known for allows her mark-making to appear beautifully effortless but is in fact the result of a rare type of generous and hand-made master craftsmanship. Three large scale paintings transform the main gallery, each featuring a figure in a window. Though no figure spills into the neighboring image, these scenes are hung to reference a singular exterior wall. Each vignette offers the viewer the ability to peer into varied moments of inquisition, awe, and fear as the subjects interact with the outside world. 

  • I have been making this show as a letter to myself. The show is about disaster—or about disaster and panic and failure. We get our news interspersed with kitten videos and go from California fires to California sunsets in the span of minutes. The line between danger and safety, calamity and calm, feels unmitigated—we move too quickly between the two to remember when to laugh or how to cry. Everything starts to feel like a mix of amplified emotion with the catatonic state of burnout blasé. I’ve tried to infuse humor, to froth in the absurdity that often accompanies tragedy, and to leave space for calmness when we are too tired for distress.

     

    – Koak

  • In the painting, California Landscape #1, the artist continues her recent exploration into landscape, more specifically, a landscape in turmoil- a dramatic depiction of an energized forest fire painted in pink, brown, and hues of grey - which echoes the themes of stress present in many of the figurative works. This work also touches on themes of fragility, which are iterated throughout the exhibition. For example, in Self-Portrait w/Flowers, a distraught subject peers out from behind a network of cracks on a vase filled with deconstructed flowers, ready to burst, but holding strong in a moment before breaking.

    • Koak Self Portrait w/ Flowers, 2022 Flashe, acrylic, graphite, pencil, pastel, chalk, and casein on linen 40 x 30 in 101.6 x 76.2 cm
      Koak
      Self Portrait w/ Flowers, 2022
      Flashe, acrylic, graphite, pencil, pastel, chalk, and casein on linen
      40 x 30 in
      101.6 x 76.2 cm
  • Highlighting the fluidity of modes of being, such as the combination of fragility with strength, is a continuing element in Koak's work. This tension is again present in her newest bronze works, one of which portrays a seated figure with a serene and almost playful face, fanning herself, while simultaneously gripping her own hair. The other, a bronze tulip resting on its curled leaf, is worn, dripping with water, and dropping petals. The bathed flower is a repeating element throughout the exhibition, capturing a sense of futility in the human attempt to remedy our destructive impacts. 

  • I'm imagining this show as a reflection of the things I would collect if I were writing a letter to...

    I'm imagining this show as a reflection of the things I would collect if I were writing a letter to myself-the bits of images that feel like worries. In a way it's an evolved continuation of a practice I started when I was younger. I would collect scraps of things to collage into letters to send away or things to keep- a sort of assemblage time capsule, cut-up from moments of the world around me…So this exhibition, each work presented with slight tonal variation to one another, (whether in style, color or how the paint is handled) reminds me of those letters…A letter written from a world on fire.

     

    – Koak

    • Koak Promenade, 2022 Oil, acrylic, Flashe, pencil, and graphite on canvas 108 1/2 x 84 in 275.6 x 213.4 cm
      Koak
      Promenade, 2022
      Oil, acrylic, Flashe, pencil, and graphite on canvas
      108 1/2 x 84 in
      275.6 x 213.4 cm
    • Koak Facade, 2022 Oil, acrylic, Flashe, and graphite on canvas 108 1/2 x 84 in 275.6 x 213.4 cm
      Koak
      Facade, 2022
      Oil, acrylic, Flashe, and graphite on canvas
      108 1/2 x 84 in
      275.6 x 213.4 cm
    • Koak En Garde, 2022 Oil, acrylic, Flashe, pencil, and graphite on canvas 108 1/2 x 84 in 275.6 x 213.4 cm
      Koak
      En Garde, 2022
      Oil, acrylic, Flashe, pencil, and graphite on canvas
      108 1/2 x 84 in
      275.6 x 213.4 cm
    • Koak It's Bad, 2022 Graphite, gouache, casein, and Beva 371 on found paper and pearl grey rag paper 12 x 9 in 30.5 x 22.9 cm Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in 40 x 32.4 cm
      Koak
      It's Bad, 2022
      Graphite, gouache, casein, and Beva 371 on found paper and pearl grey rag paper
      12 x 9 in
      30.5 x 22.9 cm
      Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in
      40 x 32.4 cm
    • Koak Cut, 2022 Graphite, charcoal, and cabin on paper mounted to pale blue rag paper with Beva 371, inlayed in steel grey rag paper 10 x 8 in 25.4 x 20.3 cm Framed: 15 1/2 x 12 3/4 in 39.4 x 32.4 cm
      Koak
      Cut, 2022
      Graphite, charcoal, and cabin on paper mounted to pale blue rag paper with Beva 371, inlayed in steel grey rag paper
      10 x 8 in
      25.4 x 20.3 cm
      Framed: 15 1/2 x 12 3/4 in
      39.4 x 32.4 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
      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 Letter to Myself in a Cloud, 2022 Flashe and graphite on canvas mounted to panel 10 x 8 in 25.4 x 20.3 cm
      Koak
      Letter to Myself in a Cloud, 2022
      Flashe and graphite on canvas mounted to panel
      10 x 8 in
      25.4 x 20.3 cm
    • Koak Grip, 2022 Graphite, charcoal, and casein on pale natural rag paper 12 x 9 in 30.5 x 22.9 cm Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in 40 x 32.4 cm
      Koak
      Grip, 2022
      Graphite, charcoal, and casein on pale natural rag paper
      12 x 9 in
      30.5 x 22.9 cm
      Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in
      40 x 32.4 cm
    • Koak Catastrophe, 2022 Graphite, pastel, gouache, and casein on pale blue rag paper 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 in 21.6 x 16.5 cm Framed: 12 1/4 x 10 1/4 in 31.1 x 26 cm
      Koak
      Catastrophe, 2022
      Graphite, pastel, gouache, and casein on pale blue rag paper
      8 1/2 x 6 1/2 in
      21.6 x 16.5 cm
      Framed: 12 1/4 x 10 1/4 in
      31.1 x 26 cm
    • Koak Bather, 2022 Bronze 24 1/4 x 18 x 9 in 61.6 x 45.7 x 22.9 cm Edition of 6 plus 2 artist's proofs
      Koak
      Bather, 2022
      Bronze
      24 1/4 x 18 x 9 in
      61.6 x 45.7 x 22.9 cm
      Edition of 6 plus 2 artist's proofs
    • Koak Doomscroll, 2022 Flashe and graphite on linen mounted to panel 77 1/2 x 63 in 196.8 x 160 cm
      Koak
      Doomscroll, 2022
      Flashe and graphite on linen
      mounted to panel
      77 1/2 x 63 in
      196.8 x 160 cm
    • 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
      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 Elipses, 2022 Graphite, gouache, and casein on pearl grey rag paper 8 x 10 in 20.3 x 25.4 cm Framed: 11 3/4 x 13 3/4 in 29.8 x 34.9 cm
      Koak
      Elipses, 2022
      Graphite, gouache, and casein on pearl grey rag paper
      8 x 10 in
      20.3 x 25.4 cm
      Framed: 11 3/4 x 13 3/4 in
      29.8 x 34.9 cm
    • Koak Untitled, 2022 Graphite, casein, and Beva 371 on found paper and pearl grey rag paper and acrylic ink dyed fawn rag paper 12 1/4 x 9 in 31.1 x 22.9 cm Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in 40 x 32.4 cm
      Koak
      Untitled, 2022
      Graphite, casein, and Beva 371 on found paper and pearl grey rag paper and acrylic ink dyed fawn rag paper
      12 1/4 x 9 in
      31.1 x 22.9 cm
      Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in
      40 x 32.4 cm
    • Koak Some Kind of Knot, 2022 Graphite, charcoal, gouache, casein, and Beva 371 on found paper and pearl grey rag paper 12 1/4 x 9 in 31.1 x 22.9 cm Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in 40 x 32.4 cm
      Koak
      Some Kind of Knot, 2022
      Graphite, charcoal, gouache, casein, and Beva 371 on found paper and pearl grey rag paper
      12 1/4 x 9 in
      31.1 x 22.9 cm
      Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in
      40 x 32.4 cm
    • Koak Clutch, 2022 Graphite, gouache, and casein on pale blue rag paper 12 1/4 x 9 in 31.1 x 22.9 cm Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in 40 x 32.4 cm
      Koak
      Clutch, 2022
      Graphite, gouache, and casein on pale blue rag paper
      12 1/4 x 9 in
      31.1 x 22.9 cm
      Framed: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 in
      40 x 32.4 cm
    • Koak Temptations, 2022 Graphite, charcoal, gouache, and casein on natural rag paper 8 3/4 x 6 3/4 in 22.2 x 17.1 cm Framed: 12 1/4 x 10 1/4 in 31.1 x 26 cm
      Koak
      Temptations, 2022
      Graphite, charcoal, gouache, and casein on natural rag paper
      8 3/4 x 6 3/4 in
      22.2 x 17.1 cm
      Framed: 12 1/4 x 10 1/4 in
      31.1 x 26 cm
  • Koak's work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Perrotin, Hong Kong, China; Union Pacific, London, UK; François Ghebaly,...

    Koak's work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Perrotin, Hong Kong, China; Union Pacific, London, UK; François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA; and Walden, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Group exhibitions include Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA; XIAO Museum, China; Haverkampf Gallery, Berlin, Germany; and The Drawing Center, New York, NY.

  • For more information contact info@altmansiegel.com or 415.576.9300.