Artist Interview: Zoe Koke

AUGUST 3, 2022

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Last but certainly not least in our LA show line up is Zoe Koke. Zoe is an interdisciplinary artist from Canada who lives in Los Angeles. She has a BFA from Concordia University (Montréal) and an MFA from UCLA and has exhibited her work internationally.

We spoke to Zoe about mediums manifesting themselves, fantasy vs. reality, and not sticking to labels. 

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Q: Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew you were an artist?

A: I first realized I needed to be an artist as a profession while I was a design student. I realized that I wanted to make things that centered on my emotions and on forces and narratives inside and outside myself, rather than logic and rationality.

Q: As a multidisciplinary artist, do you have favorite tools and mediums to work with?

A: I really do like working across mediums. My ideas surface and find their appropriate forms. I just finished a collection of poetry and I'm working on preparing to shoot a short film, but I also feel very drawn to paint or photograph at times. My work feels very much like part of my surroundings, part of my every day. I like working with others too. And I like found objects and detritus from walks I take. For example, I have a collection of found lottery tickets. 

Q: How much of your work is inspired by reality versus fantasy?

A: I would say most of my work is inspired by my reality. I usually latch onto a thought, motif, experience or a photograph as a point of departure, then the medium I'm working with takes over and creates a unique narrative that I try to follow. I really believe to a large extent, my work is making itself. 

Q: How would you describe your work to someone that's never seen it?

A: It always changes and I don't have a formula or one medium, so I'm not sure how to answer that. But in regards to painting, I might say it has a particular raw energy and a tenderness and it's often charting abstracted moments in nature. A good friend jokes and calls me Ab Ex Zoe, so yea, maybe the paintings are Abstract Expressionism, and maybe the rest of the work, in all mediums, is also part of this emotional dialogue between my body and various environments.

Zoe Koke is an interdisciplinary artist from Canada who lives in Los Angeles. She has a BFA from Concordia University (Montréal) and an MFA from UCLA and has exhibited her work internationally.

Check out her website here!

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