Koak

Artistic Profile

Style

Line Quality

Although the sinuous, graphic nature of the lines appears spontaneous and natural, it is actually carefully constructed, with perfectly delineated contours that rhythmically and harmoniously converge to express the state of the subject.

Distinctiveness

Koak works across mediums to render images of figures imbued with complex interiority, resisting widely held assumptions about coherence of the self in favor of a more porous understanding of subjectivity.

Visual Characteristics

Working much larger than comic-book scale, Koak makes expansive canvases in which her simple but expressive lines stand out against a muted, Disneyesque color palette, with women who are deeply emotive.

Evolution

Early Work

Early work very much drawn from own experiences as act of therapy, dealing with unpacking difficulties of being a teenager through zines and exhibitions

Mature Style

Transition from personal narrative to broader explorations of female archetypes and societal expectations

Scale Evolution

From comic book scale and zines to expansive canvases and large-scale paintings

Recent Development

Bodies of work tend to coalesce around ideas that initially emerged on fringes of previous projects but gain form and momentum when placed in relation to each other

Influences

Literary

Susanne Langer's philosophical treatise on nature of art as communication

Personal

Personal experiences with illness, teenage struggles, themes of power and vulnerability

Animation

Japanese and European animation aesthetics

Art Historical

Feminist art movement, challenging male gaze in traditional portraiture

Popular Culture

Comic books, especially X-Men women characters, particularly Storm

Visual Language

Color Palette

Muted, Disneyesque palette; deep blues; lush, saturated colors; soft, rounded shapes

Emotional Tone

Canvases saturated in mood, denoting various emotive timbres through deployment of color, line quality, spatial configuration, and gesture

Narrative Quality

Open-ended narratives posed by complex emotional states enable viewers to connect with works through their own associations

Compositional Approach

Figures shown within interior settings, represented in various states of emotional and physical absorption, either alone or in embrace, with sweeping lines delineating women in dusk-lit rooms or contorted bodies.

Themes and Subjects

Thematic Focus

• Societal expectations of women, in particular propriety and domestic labor
• Feminine figures and felines as vehicles for expression communicating vast range of behaviors and emotional states, archetypes of self developed throughout life or internalized by experience
• Refusing reductive categorization of emotions, focusing on embodying vulnerability that makes self-possession and human connection possible
• Touch and sensorial experience
• Anxiety and stress represented through varied tones
• Female agency and interiority

Primary Subjects

Female figures, felines (cats), domestic interiors, landscapes

Conceptual Framework

Struggle of delicacy vs. strength, and subtlety vs. invincibility in relationship to nature, dichotomies central to Koak's practice

Movements and Periods

Influences

Comic book illustration (especially X-Men, particularly Storm)Japanese animation and brush paintingEuropean animationWest Coast contemporary artFeminist art movement

Historical Context

Despite graphic, comic-inspired style, Koak's paintings expand thematically far beyond traditional boundaries of the medium in the United States, drawing on elements of Japanese and European animation.

Primary Classification

Contemporary feminist figurative painting

Techniques and Mediums

Sculpture

Bronze sculpture (e.g., flower being bathed), wood constructions with plexiglass

Printmaking

Lithography (Tamarind Institute collaboration 2022)

Scale Range

Small works on paper (11 3/4 x 8 1/2 in.) to large canvases (95 x 68 in., 66 1/2 x 50 1/16 in. diptychs)

Primary Mediums

Koak uses an array of materials including acrylic, ink, chalk, graphite, and oil to render her spare, bright, and wide-eyed figures.

Painting Surfaces

Linen mounted to panel, stretched linen, natural rag paper

Specific Materials

Flashe, acrylic, oil, graphite, pencil, pastel, chalk, casein, charcoal, pigment