Artist Chris Oh combines two of the most defying practices in modern art: appropriation and the ready-made. In his meticulously rendered copies of Renaissance art, his paintings exist on the most disparate surfaces, ranging from playing cards and crystals to book stacks and shells. For Oh, this combination of painting and the ready-made serves as curious contemplations on time and the nature of being. As a whole, Oh's work represents a resurrection of art history. To view these delicate paintings is to witness the artist summoning some of the most sublime reflections on 15th and 16th-century life and employing them as mirrors through which we can observe our own moment in time.
Motivated by a desire to transcend the constraints of the traditional canvas, Oh began to explore non-traditional surfaces in his artistic endeavours. His sculptural approach to painting deconstructs art-historical compositions and narratives, dissecting and magnifying the painting experience through the physicality of installation. Through his exploration of surface, space, and the reinterpretation of art-historical elements, Chris Oh's work is embedded with the familiarity that only everyday objects can embody. Perception is challenged, and the lines between the familiar and the unfamiliar become blurred. Simultaneously, his works pave the way for reconsidering the relationships between material and narrative.
Chris Oh (b. 1982, Portland, USA) received his BFA from School of Visuals Arts, New York (2004). He has exhibited his work widely in solo and group exhibitions including Liste, Capsule Shanghai, Basel (2024); THE GOLDEN RATIO, Soho Revue Gallery, London (2024); When We Become Us, curated by Manuela Liettio, Capsule Venice, Venice (2024); TEFAF New York, BLUM Gallery, New York (2024); Art Brussels, Newchild, Brussels (2024); Passage, Capsule Shanghai, Shanghai (2023, solo); Pictures Girls Make: Portraiture Through the Lens of Progress, curated by Alison M. Gingeras, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2023); Snakes In The Grass, Newchild, Antwerp (2023); Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh (2023); Homo Angelicus, Brazda & Snow, New York (2023); Now I am a lake, curated by Rose Nestler, Public Gallery, London (2022); The Views, curated by Zoe Fisher, Moskowitz Bayse, Los Angeles (2022); In Search of the Miraculous, curated by Jonathan Rider, Flag Art Foundation, New York (2022); Landscapes, Fortnight Institute, New York (2021); Nine Lives, Fortnight Institute, New York (2021); Desire Encapsulated, Make Room, Los Angeles (2021); Interiors, Venus Over Manhattan, New York (2021). The artist lives and works in Queens, New York.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 / Passage, Capsule Shanghai, Shanghai
2021 / Landscapes, Fortnight Institute, New York
2020 / Esprit, solo presentation at Independent, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 / (Forthcoming) Kiaf, Newchild, Seoul
2024 / Liste, Capsule Shanghai, Basel
2024 / THE GOLDEN RATIO, Soho Revue Gallery, London
2024 / When We Become Us, curated by Manuela Liettio, Capsule Venice, Venice
2024 / TEFAF New York, BLUM Gallery, New York
2024 / Art Brussels, Newchild, Brussels
2023 / Pictures Girls Make: Portraiture Through the Lens of Progress, curated by Alison M. Gingeras, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
2023 / Snakes In The Grass, Newchild, Antwerp
2023 / Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh
2023 / Homo Angelicus, Brazda & Snow, New York
2022 / Now I am a lake, curated by Rose Nestler, Public Gallery, London
2022 / The Views, curated by Zoe Fisher, Moskowitz Bayse, Los Angeles
2022 / In Search of the Miraculous, curated by Jonathan Rider, Flag Art Foundation New York