News – Kathy Aoki

2025 Creative Capital Grant!!!
2025 Creative Capital Grant!!!

Hooray!!! I am thrilled to receive a 2025 Creative Capital Grant alongside my Bay Area cohort artists Christine Wong Yap, Rashaad Newsome, and Morehshin Allahyari. This grant will jumpstart the next phase of my Koons Ruins work: Koons Ruins Atlas, which leverages maps and scenes to satirically document the fictional vendetta against Jeff Koons’ art by a collector bent on acquiring and destroying his works on her estate. The new project comprises a series of large-scale (8ft x 12ft) immersive scenes, influenced by traditional printmaking aesthetics, with an interactive relief map activated by animation. 

Special thanks to Creative Capital, Christine Kuan, Wanda Kownacki, Christine Duval, Mitra Fabian, Marcia Tanner, Kevin Chen, Karen Kienzle, Ciara Ennis, David Wilcox, and all the folks who helped make this possible.

Press release: https://creative-capital.org/press/announcing-the-2025-creative-capital-awards/

 

Koons Ruins animation frames
Koons Ruins animation frames
Honoring women pioneers in the South Bay Area!
Honoring women pioneers in the South Bay Area!

Augmented reality project in progress, celebrating Artemas Ginzton.

Art Builds Community recently commissioned me to create four augmented reality scenes for the Womanhood project, with support from Santa Clara County.
My honorees will be:

  • Artemas Ginzton (bikeway and trail blazer)
  • Elinor Cogswell (outspoken editor of the Palo Alto Times from 1938 – 1954),
  • Ascencion Solarsano (community healer and last fluent speaker of the Mutsun language of the Amah Mutsun tribe)
  • Inez Jackson (civil rights activist, first Black postal worker, teacher).

I’m using After Effects, Photoshop, and Artivive to create animations in augmented reality celebrating each honoree’s contributions.

Viewers will be able to access the animations at specific sites throughout Santa Clara County by using the Artivive app on your phone. The project completion will be celebrated later this summer. Stay tuned!

2025 Creative Capital Grant!!!
Solo Show: An immersive antidote to Jeff Koons

Solo Show: An Immersive antidote to Jeff Koons

Perhaps you recently learned that pop-kitsch artist Jeff Koons’ sent his sculptures to the moon (thanks to Elon Musk) to create NFTs?  If this news brought on a whole new level of disappointment with the art world, please visit my solo exhibition for a cathartic experience. Current review on SquareCylinder.com!

Koons Ruins: Discovery Zone
West Valley College Art Gallery
14000 Fruitvale Ave, Saratoga, CA
Closes April 4, 2024

Details  here!

Koons Ruins: Discovery Zone by Kathy Aoki, installed at West Valley College 2024

Kathy Aoki, Koons Ruins:Discovery Zone installation, West Valley College 2024

woman in tub interactive panel

Kathy Aoki, Woman in Tub – Rate Your Indignation Panel, 14 x 14 x 2 in, 2024

Honoring women pioneers in the South Bay Area!
Recorded mini-performance/artist talk

two pictures of Kathy Aoki, in the studio at Recology SF and in character as curator of the Museum of Historical Makeovers

Kathy Aoki, discusses her practice and current/upcoming projects. 30 minutes.

 

Recorded Lunchtime Artist Talk

Check out this mini-performance/artist talk to learn about my practice including 1)performance secrets, 2)my artist book in the current group show A Radical Alteration,and 3)what I’m working on right now (a solo show!). Hosted by SFCB.