2021 Catalogue Archive

It’s hard to imagine a stem of broccoli having complex emotions, but somehow Hein Koh has done it. Her “sexy, smoking broccoli babe” first showed up in her sculptural work as a more self-contained object, but moved to the 2D realm during the pandemic when the artist was searching for a more immediate form of expression. Her broccoli and carrot characters function both as autobiographical figures and symbols of healthy female bodies, but they always seem to rebel by smoking, wearing fishnets and black boots, and spending too much time on their phones. As Koh says, “they have rich, inner, psychological lives.” Here, a piece of broccoli in black, thigh-high boots contemplates a cherry blossom in a tender moment of solitude. Koh’s work has been included in solo and group exhibitions at venues throughout the US, Europe, and Asia.