KiSung Koh

To make a long story short, I saw a brief article on Hi-Fructose about an artist I was unfamiliar with, KiSung Koh. Koh is originally from Seoul but moved to Canada in 2006, & recently graduated from Sheridan College. He has technical skills (in spades) & well-developed themes; pretty impressive work for a recent grad! I enjoy the mixture of representational realism with fantastic elements and patterning. There’s something very Princess Mononoke about it all that appeals to me. Edit (June 12): I just saw this raven piece on BOOOOOM, and feel compelled to include it here – in no small part because the raven is my favourite bird.

Koh is very much into nature and has a pretty spiritual relationship going on in that regard.

I was walking in a forest myself one day. It was early morning and very silent, calm. And I saw a deer family very close. I can’t explain how I felt at the time because it’s unspeakable. It was just truly amazing. It’s probably easier to say that I saw not only deers but also beautiful spirits around them. There is nothing more beautiful than when you actually see a wild animal in the nature. However, we rarely see them from where they are supposed to be and just don’t know how amazing they are to be alive.
– from Hi-Fructose

All in all, I’m very impressed with Koh’s work and I look forward to seeing more of it. It’s always great to find a new artist to follow, hopefully for many years to come.