ARTIST TERENCE KOH BY EVE THEROND
In an art fair, like the Armory, Art practitioners must market themselves within an informal network of perverse rituals, what are the rituals of allegiance to art you have to perform? ( i.e., unconfortable handshakes…)
I do the same as any car salesperson and always follow these points.
1- – Access the situation: who is the collector, does she have a foundation, can this curator advance my career, will this writer talk about me positively to other people in the art world? Based on these factors, I rely on my personal bank of information (from personal experience and reading art magazines and websites) and react to produce actions that will push my art career in the most positive way… So for instance, an important collector will get a warm panda bear like hug instead of a pleasant but impassive hello (you always want them to want more) –
NEVER air kiss, its too 2003.
2 – Dress appropriately
– Never dress UP to an art fair or art event or an opening (your own and others)
– The artist is the work of art in itself during an art fair and you mustn’t distract from that
– however, always dress up in your regular life (when going to grocery store, visiting your dentist) this way people will talk about it and it becomes more effective as part of your branding -INDIRECT branding like this is always the best publicity- so when they see you dressed down at an art fair it REINFORCES the idea
you are a SPECIAL artist
3 – If you are an artist, always have earphones on or around your neck (again this affirms the view that you like to be in your own world and access to your world can easily be denied by putting on your own earphones.)
4 – Always look slightly tanned, and well moisturized; I use a light Chanel bronzer myself; it gives a glow to you which in turn makes your artwork more desirable.
5 – Always also wear perfume if you are going to an art fair. Even if you never do or hate perfume on a daily basis. From experience, people in the Art world are secretly driven by pheromones, and you want to be remembered for you synthetic smell, not your natural smell. Remember you are a product at an Art Fair and you need to reinforce that, and smell is the most direct (or indirect) way to define that.
Artists like pop stars, galleries openings like red carpets events, what happened to the art world, why has it become so popular, so hip?
It’s a natural evolution. Art is the most beautiful yet most complex thing in the world, and it took a while for the world at large to catch up with this. The Art world will increasing become more hip and popular and I think in approximately a decade it will equal the popularity of the music and movie world. It is not there just yet.
Can mainstream people identify with art scenesters the same way they do with singers, or actors?
Again not quite yet, but as the years go by this will happen.
Why do we need Art in our lives? Is Art an alternative religion?
Art is not God but it is the closest thing to God. Art gives direction to your lives like Religion but hopefully without the violence of Religion. With Art, life becomes more beautiful. But this definition of “beautiful” I cannot define to you, it is beyond a positive or negative effect.
Why do you think Art is so undemocratic, and why do art citizens keep their world so secretive?
You are very right, Art is undemocratic. Or more precisely, most Art now is undemocratic. This is because anybody and everybody in the Art World has felt like an outsider since childhood, like the loner in High school. So when you gain power in the Art world you suddenly feel like part of the Football Club. Art has until recently not being understood as part of our culture, our way of being. As I said, as Art becomes understood by more and more people these days.
How come a gallery is so austere, the critic’s language so intimidating, an evening auction so snobbish, for a world supposedly full of unconventional and anarchic people, the artists themselves?
Again because most people in the Art World are dying to get accepted by as many people as possible. So once they think they have power, they by nature become bullies. That is a trait ingrained in our human genetics. The few “unconventional/strange/anarchic” Art people are just like the few in the rest of society, “abnormalies”. However, sometimes these “abnormalies”, different, though fairly similarly to the concept of mutation, are necessary for evolution…
The art chart/ What’s your top 5 artists?
– Michael Jackson
– Madonna
– David Bowie
– Ian Curtis
– Whitney Houston
Out of the tents / Where do you have dinner?
I rarely have dinner because I find it hard to sleep after eating. I can’t sleep even at least 6 hours after eating the littlest morsel. So when I am dining at Public events I distribute my food to friends around the table.
A drink?
I don’t drink. I think it clouds your thinking.
Where do you party?
I only go to clubs if it’s tied to an event. Once I get photographed, I pretty much leave and go home. I am really shy and scared in most social/public situations.
Five things you love about Art
Art is beyond definition and therefore beyond love.
Five things you hate about Art
See above.
What’s the Art world’s worst secret?
I think there are two very specific dirty secrets in the Art world, and I really apologize but I would really prefer to keep them to myself.
What’s your favorite piece of clothing for an Art event?
White sneakers.
What’s the art world coming to?
“You” Yourself as the notion of the selfish “I” is completely in charge of the Future. So whatever I personally do will change forever the history of Art. And in my mind, I just want to make my world more beautiful in a positive sense. So, I say, in the spirit of hallmark card greeting: “I’M GONNA MAKE THE WHOLE
WORLD AS HAPPY AS A RAINBOW.”
BY EVE THEROND
