The Opening, 2024
Acrylic and oil on canvas, 30 x 22 in.

Image credit: © 2024 Christie’s Images Ltd.

Melancholy, 2024
Oil on canvas, 96 x 72 in.

Image credit: Izzy Leung

Mother, 2024
Oil on canvas, 96 x 72 in.

Image credit: Izzy Leung

Four Burners, 2024
Oil and oil stick on canvas, 30 x 22 in.

Image credit: Izzy Leung

memory/

Art was always part of my life as far back as I can remember. I went to public school in Northern New Jersey, right outside New York City. Since I went to elementary school in the ‘80s, pop culture was in the air–everyone was into Swatch watches and pop art-inspired fashion. My art teacher, Mrs. Kriegel, would always talk about artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring and come up with amazing projects, like making album covers for fictional bands. More than anything, she recognized my talent and encouraged me from an early age.

In fourth grade, my mom signed me up for after-school art classes with a local Korean-American artist where I learned to paint with acrylics, which was a great foundation for me. But by ninth grade, I started to focus more on academics. I was under a lot of pressure to excel, and I quit taking art classes during high school.

Once I went to college, I slowly reconnected with art, eventually majoring in Studio Art and Psychology. One of my professors once said, "You make art because you have to—it's not a choice.” Right after graduation, I didn’t make much art, but after a year and a half, I finally had space for a tiny studio (an unfinished bathroom with a sink) where I set up an easel and started painting. That was the moment I realized how much I had missed art, and I even cried. Art kind of chose me, and by 24, I knew I had to pursue art professionally. That was when I decided to apply to grad school.

The artist’s studio.
Image credit: Izzy Leung

Image credit: Izzy Leung

line/

My work has always been psychological, and telling these personal narratives is therapeutic for me. I’ve always used characters, although there was a time in undergrad when I painted a lot of self-portraits. They were dark and funny—portraits of me as a voodoo doll with pins in my body or in violent, dismembered poses. It was angsty, intense, and sometimes sexual work—just a reflection of how I felt when I was younger.

The Cyclops is the basis for all my characters. It’s a single-eyed, gender-neutral figure I created after my twins were born. It helped me process motherhood and the mysticism of having twins.

The Broccoli Woman is the Cyclops figure dressed up—as a vegetable, with boots, lips, and smoking cigarettes. She emerged after I had been a mom for a few years and started to regain some independence. The Broccoli Woman helped me rebel against the idea of being a "saintly mom": a role that felt foreign to me. She’s hyper-feminine and healthy, yet she smokes. She was a funny, subversive idea.

I went through a major life change in 2023 when I was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. Cancer made me want to simplify my life, my art–everything. I had to start over small, making charcoal and chalk pencil drawings on my studio couch. I revisited the Cyclops and reduced my palette to primarily black and white. Art-making helped me process the gravity of that experience.

Image credit: Izzy Leung

color/

I’ve gone through many distinct phases with mediums. I studied painting but transitioned to sculpture after grad school. My early sculptures were soft, fabric-based pieces. I started with canvas, which I’d burn with a blowtorch and then attach natural materials like porcupine quills and coyote teeth.

The medium or palette I gravitate toward depends on what I’m going through at that time. When my kids were born, I was immersed in the playful, colorful world of children’s illustrations, toys, and clothing. I transitioned from natural, neutral tones to vibrant colors: from canvas to metallic spandex. In 2018, I made an installation of anthropomorphized hamburgers, ice cream cones, and crying flowers at Marvin Gardens. When the pandemic hit, I felt burnt out from the physical labor of sculpture-making—especially all the cutting and sewing. Plus, the mood of my work, these bright, happy surreal sculptures, didn’t feel right anymore, so I pared down my palette and practice, and started painting again. I felt I could better express the dark feelings I was experiencing at the time through painting rather than sculpture and through psychological narratives. That was when the Broccoli Woman, originally a smoking broccoli sculpture, became the center of my narrative.

I’ve recently started taking a ceramics class, which has completely taken over my practice. Ceramics are the perfect way to combine my love for painting and sculpture. I feel like I’m a scientist, researching glazes and experimenting with texture and color. Ceramics has taught me a lot about letting go. There was a time when I was afraid–I didn’t want to make something and have it break in the kiln. I’m used to working with sculpture where I feel in control the entire time. In ceramics, sometimes, you work on a piece for a while, and it breaks or doesn’t turn out as planned. But you move on to the next piece. I think that’s a good life lesson, too. Things don’t always go as planned, but you’ve got to keep going.

Image credit: Izzy Leung

Image credit: Izzy Leung

Written and interviewed by Gabrielle Luu.

Gabrielle Luu is a writer based in Brooklyn, NY and the Editor-in-Chief of Civil Art.

Image credit: Izzy Leung

Hein Koh

Hein Koh (b. 1976) is an artist based in Brooklyn, NY. She received a dual BA in Studio Art and Psychology from Dartmouth College and an MFA in Painting from Yale University.

Koh has exhibited her work extensively and internationally. In 2019, she had her first major public installation at Rockefeller Center, with the Art Production Fund, which was reviewed in ArtNews and New York Magazine. In 2021, she had her first institutional solo show at the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum, which was also a public art installation. Koh has also taught or lectured at Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Tyler School of Art, Cranbrook Academy of Art, California College of the Arts, Tyler School of Art, New York University, and the School of Visual Arts, among other institutions. From 2021-2022, she was granted the position of “McMillan/Stewart Endowed Chair of Painting” at the Maryland Institute College of Art.