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Oscar yi Hou

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Oscar yi Hou (born 1998) is a New York City–based British-Chinese painter and poet.[1]

He is known for his portraits that are "never purely figurative, but position characters as richly complex ciphers",[2] engaging with the “subterranean semiotics” of his communities.[3] His oil-on-canvas works make reference to a variety of visual cultures and histories, from pop culture to art history, including Dragon Ball Z or Martin Wong.

Early life and education

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yi Hou was born in Liverpool, England. His parents left Guangdong, China in the early 1990s for England.[4] In Liverpool, they ran a Cantonese restaurant for many years, where he worked.[5][6] His burgeoning interest in drawing started with Pokémon fan art and browsing the pages of DeviantArt and Tumblr.

In 2021, yi Hou graduated from Columbia University in New York City with a bachelor's degree in visual arts.[7][8]

Career

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The same year he graduated, yi Hou presented a solo show with James Fuentes gallery.[9] In a favorable review, The New York Times described the artist as "a painter who has many things to say, and is able to say them all at once".[10]

In 2023, yi Hou presented a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, titled East of Sun, West of Moon.[11][12] At age 24, he was reported to be one of the youngest artists to have a solo show at a major New York museum.[3][5][13] He was named in Forbes 30 Under 30.[14]

Work

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yi Hou's works has been described as "deeply citational, resulting in densely layered compositions that brim with imagery,"[2] featuring "semiotic constellations"[15] of hieroglyphs, such as cranes, dragons, leather chaps, the yin and yang symbol, the American flag, glory holes, Western cowboy hats, and spurs, all as stand-ins for the artist and his immediate world.[1] "There are a lot of ethical considerations when you present someone else," the artist is quoted saying for Document Journal, "When you represent yourself, you can make up a figure and do whatever you want with it."[16]

His practice examines Americanism, imperialism, racial histories, gender, queer kinship, language, and portraiture. yi Hou often incorporates poetry in his work, producing what he describes as "poem-pictures."[1][6][7][2][17][18]

In one of his essays, yi Hou coins the term "representationalism" to describe a sort of "political recuperation and defanging of identity politics by liberal multiculturalism to serve capitalist ends. It's corporate DEI. It's an ideology which seeks to represent, and often deputize, minoritarian subjects within larger structures of power."[7][17][19]

yi Hou is inspired by the filmmaker Trinh T. Minh Ha, philosopher Édouard Glissant, scholar Gayatri Spivak, and political theorist Achille Mbembe, as well as painters Alice Neel and Martin Wong.[6][17]

He frequently collaborates with fellow artists, writers, and poets. He co-curated 2021's Queer Out T/Here, a group show with nine artists, including Amanda Ba, Tseng Kwong Chi, Louis Fratino, Dominique Fung, and Lily Wong, who "examine the condition of 'otherness' across overlapping lines of queerness and/or East Asian identity."

In 2022, yi Hou published a book with James Fuentes Press, Oscar yi Hou, of poems, stories, and essays by the artist, Simon Wu, Xin Wang, and Kate Wong.[20]

In addition to exhibiting at the Brooklyn Museum and James Fuentes Gallery, yi Hou has also exhibited in New York City at the New-York Historical Society and the Asia Society. He has also exhibited at Grinnell College Museum of Art in Grinnell, Iowa; the Carl Freedman Gallery in London; the Kohn Gallery in Hollywood, California; and K11 Musea in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Public collections

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "At 25, Artist Oscar yi Hou Has Already Had a Solo Museum Show—And Written a Memoir". www.culturedmag.com. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Voon, Claire (March 14, 2022). "Oscar yi Hou's Layered Portraits of Queer Kinship Evade Easy Interpretation". Artsy. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Harrelson, Sarah (November 28, 2023). "6 Artists to Watch during Miami Art Week According to Sarah Harrelson". Artsy. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  4. ^ "Caught between Asia and the West, Oscar yi Hou's art combines both worlds". South China Morning Post. June 7, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Loos, Ted (October 22, 2022). "Oscar yi Hou's Paintings Lend New Frames to Queer, Asian Identity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Wu, Simon (November 15, 2022). "Oscar yi Hou's Striking Portraits Subvert Myths of Masculinity and Belonging". Artsy. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Woolbright, Andrew Paul (July 4, 2023). "Oscar yi Hou with Andrew Woolbright". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  8. ^ Fisher, Catherine (September 15, 2021). "Undergraduate Alumnus Oscar yi Hou (CC '21) in Solo Show 'A sky-licker relation'". Columbia University School of the Arts.
  9. ^ Loos, Ted (October 22, 2022). "Oscar yi Hou's Paintings Lend New Frames to Queer, Asian Identity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  10. ^ "Art Gallery Shows to See Right Now". The New York Times. September 10, 2021. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  11. ^ "Oscar yi Hou: East of Sun, West of Moon". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  12. ^ NYC-Arts | Oscar yi Hou's "East of sun, west of moon" | Season 2023 | Episode 572 | PBS. Retrieved July 12, 2024 – via www.pbs.org.
  13. ^ "Oscar yi Hou". Forbes. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  14. ^ Rabb, Maxwell (November 28, 2023). "Oscar yi Hou, Gisela McDaniel, and Kapp Kapp named in Forbes's 30 Under 30". Artsy. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  15. ^ Liscia, Valentina Di; Amin, Valentina Di Liscia, Lakshmi Rivera (August 11, 2023). "10 Art Shows to See in New York Right Now". Hyperallergic. Retrieved July 12, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Bulnes, Madison (November 18, 2022). "Oscar yi Hou makes art from the spaces in between". Document Journal. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  17. ^ a b c "Mlle. Chris à central park 103rd, en automne | The Now Evening Auction | 2023". Sotheby's. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  18. ^ "Artist Oscar yi Hou Questions "Asian" and "American" Identity | All Of It". WNYC. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  19. ^ yi Hou, Oscar; Wu, Simon; Want, Xin; Wong, Kate (2022). Oscar yi Hou. James Fuentes Press. ISBN 978-1-7365415-6-2.
  20. ^ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  21. ^ "Oscar yi Hou | Coolieisms, aka: Sly Son Goku turns 23". whitney.org. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  22. ^ Segal, Corinne (January 24, 2024). "Oscar yi Hou on The Arm Wrestle of Chip & Spike; aka: Star-Makers". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  23. ^ "Present '23: Building the Scantland Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art |". www.columbusmuseum.org. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  24. ^ "Grinnell College Museum of Art – The siblings in my studio, aka: Gemini, Sagittarian". grinnell.dom5183.com. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  25. ^ "Forlorn fire-escape flowers, aka: New York strings of life". Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  26. ^ "Expanding the Collections | New-York Historical Society". www.nyhistory.org. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
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