News – Kathy Aoki
Aoki Animation on Salesforce Tower Top
Snippets of Kathy Aoki’s 5-minute Salesforce Tower Animation during May 2025
My five- minute “Koons Ruins” themed animation will run on top of the Saleforce Tower in San Francisco throughout the Month of May as part of the Midnight Artist Series. You can view the looping animation every night in May from midnight to 1am. Special early viewing nights start at 9pm on May 17, 18, and 24.
Part of my Koons Ruins series, the scenes include giant chipmunks jumping on half-buried balloon dogs, front loader tractors dumping balloon dogs into deep pits, and Koons sculpture dumped over a waterfall and sinking underwater…
I created the animation with a range of digital tools, including Adobe After Effects, Animate, Premiere, Illustrator.
Santa Clara University Engineering graduate student Julianna Dietrich assisted with Cinema 4D work for the waterfall scene.
Check out my IG page for details on the viewing event/meet-up in San Francisco on May 24.
There is an open call on @salesforce_towertop_art on IG through May 31.
The Salesforce Tower is the tallest building in San Francisco. This project was made possible thanks to internationally renowned light artist Jim Campbell and his collaborator Emma Strebel and was created in partnership with BXP.
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.
Creative Capital 2025 Award Link
*Koons Ruins is NOT sponsored, endorsed, or approved by Jeff Koons. Koons Ruins and Kathy Aoki are commenting on and criticizing Jeff Koons and his works; they are NOT affiliated, connected, or associated with Jeff Koons in any way.
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!
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!
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Koons Ruins: Discovery Zone
West Valley College Art Gallery
14000 Fruitvale Ave, Saratoga, CA
Closes April 4, 2024–
*Koons Ruins is NOT sponsored, endorsed, or approved by Jeff Koons. Koons Ruins and Kathy Aoki are commenting on and criticizing Jeff Koons and his works; they are NOT affiliated, connected, or associated with Jeff Koons in any way.
Kathy Aoki, Koons Ruins:Discovery Zone installation, West Valley College 2024
Kathy Aoki, “Shard” of broken porcelain Balloon Dog, 2022