About RAY KOH

RAY KOH is a 7-year old artist and filmmaker based in California. He is a 17X winner of the Creative Quarterly for Fine Art & Design.

Seven years ago, I began my artist career in Big Sur, CA with a drone and a primordial desire to explore creative expression.

Using a drone as my paint brush, eraser and the ocean as his canvas, I began exploring primitive artistic techniques such as learning how to draw lines, understanding form, controlling the medium enough to start becoming expressive beyond its own intrinsic givens. I knew I had to learn how to work with Mother Nature in order to make unlock the key to a productive symbiotic relationship.

Unlike other drone pilots, I was using the drone as paint brush. My process and methodology became more akin to an archaeologist where the brush became more an eraser that removed unnecessary elements so that only extracted subject-matter remained. Less was more but only because my subject-matter was deeply embedded into the work. This unique methodology created an unusual sense of scale to my work given how large of an area the images covered.

"The Big Sur Suite" is a culmination of my years in Big Sur, CA. The collection of artworks explore large scale earthworks, ocean portraits, notions on the primordial which includes a series of Big Sur "bowls of water" and the largest California Roll in the world. It was here in Big Sur while emotionally being on fire, I learned how to paint with the ocean and not just recreate simulacra from my ego.

From 2020-present, I began to incorporate photography into my practice. Spending a few years in San Francisco, I produced the San Francisco Suite which focused on the brutality of restaurants, Chinatown, and the notions of facades. My work from this series has won numerous awards, been published on multiple occassions, and exhibited throughout North America.

At the same time, I began taking portraits of musicians. The results of meeting greatness in their element then taking it to my own level have produced some fascinating results. My portraits of Wes Eisold of Cold Cave and American Nightmare have won awards and also been published on multiple occasions. I have had the pleasure of shooting Laurie Anderson, Atarashii Gakko, Bjork, David Byrne, Death Valley Girls, Destroy Boys, Danny Elfmen, Perry Ferrell, Phillip Glass, Lavinia Meirer, and Sinead O’Connor.

More than ever, I believe that we must deal with the ramifications of technologies that accelerate our lives into nearly unsustainable velocity and unrealistic realities. With the increasing hyper-saturation of digital content, our own deprogramming into automation, how do we rise above this relentless ebb and flow? How do we create a new American Art that reconciles the loss of the original, relentless digital dissolution and decentralization of ourselves and the world around us?