Koak
Koak
Koak is a Californian artist whose paintings, drawings, and sculptures explore the psychology of life, death, and desire. A virtuoso of vivid line work, Koak draws inspiration from sources as varied as European Expressionism and Japanese animation to create works filled with emotional honesty, figurative clarity, and eloquent abstraction. Through rehearsal and refinement, Koak creates exacting compositions featuring shapes that are alive with double entendre.
Koak (b. 1981, Lansing, MI) earned her BFA and MFA from California College of the Arts. Recently, she had a solo exhibition in Charleston, the home and studio of painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, located in Lewes, UK. Koak has participated in many institutional group shows, including at the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA; Musées d’Angers, France; Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao; and Rudolph Tegners Museum and Statue Park, Dronningmølle, Denmark, among others. In 2020, she received a Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation and completed residencies at the Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, NM, and at Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco, through the Liquitex Residency program. Koak’s work is part of the permanent collections of the de Young Museum, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and Musées d’Angers. She lives and works in San Francisco and is represented by Perrotin, Union Pacific, and Jessica Silverman. Her first solo show with Jessica Silverman is scheduled for March 2027.
Koak
Everything Touches Everything Else, 2026
Flashe, acrylic, chalk from Seven Sisters, and casein on linen
40 x 30 x 2 inches / 101.6 x 76.2 x 5.1 cm
Scale view
Koak
Everything Touches Everything Else, 2026
Detail view
Koak
Open Book / Pressed Flowers, 2026
Flashe, acrylic, chalk from Seven Sisters, pencil shavings, graphite, pastel, charcoal paint, and casein on linen
40 × 30 × 2 inches / 101.6 × 76.2 × 5.1 cm
Koak
Open Book / Pressed Flowers, 2026
Detail view
Koak
Great Expectations, 2026
Graphite, gouache, and casein on natural rag paper
10 1/2 x 12 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches / 26.7 x 31.1 x 3.8 cm
Koak
Care, 2025–2026
Graphite, chalk from Seven Sisters, and casein on acrylic-dyed rag paper
10 1/2 x 12 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches / 26.7 x 31.1 x 3.8 cm
Koak
The First Dream, 2026
Graphite and casein on stone grey rag paper
16 x 11 1/4 inches / 40.6 x 28.6 cm
Koak
I Take the Rain, 2025–2026
Graphite and casein on stone grey rag paper
14 1/2 x 11 inches / 36.8 x 27.9 cm
Koak
Sun Dour, 2022
Bronze
15 × 15 × 10 inches / 38.1 × 38.1 × 25.4 cm
Edition of 12 plus 1 artist’s proof
Installation view Koak: The Window Set, 2025
Charleston in Lewes, Sussex, UK
Photo: Lee Robbins
Installation view Koak: The Window Set, 2025
Charleston in Lewes, Sussex, UK
Photo: Tom Carter
Koak
The Shut-Ins, 2025
Signed and dated on verso
Flashe, acrylic, chalk from the cliffs of Seven Sisters, and casein on linen
86 x 68 3/4 inches / 218.4 x 174.6 cm
ADDITIONAL WORKS
Koak
Communion, 2025
Signed and dated on verso
Flashe, acrylic, chalk from the cliffs of Seven Sisters, and casein on canvas
55 1/2 x 42 inches / 141 x 106.7 cm
Koak
Magritte’s Door, 2024
Flashe, acrylic, wooden pencil shavings, and grape seed liquid charcoal on linen
74 x 59 inches / 188 x 149.9 cm
Koak
Nancy in Blue, 2024
Flashe on linen
74 x 59 inches / 188 x 149.9 cm
Koak
The Shell, 2023–2024
Flashe, graphite, and wooden pencil shavings on linen
86 x 68 3/4 inches / 218.4 x 174.6 cm
Koak
Swan Song, 2023
Signed
Bronze with silver nitrate patina
24 × 15 × 20 inches / 61 × 38.1 × 50.8 cm
Koak
Date Night, 2023
Signed and dated on verso
Flashe and acrylic on canvas
61 x 48 1/2 inches / 154.9 x 123.2 cm
Koak
Bather, 2022
Signed on base
Bronze with silver nitrate patina
24 1/4 x 18 x 9 inches / 61.6 x 45.7 x 22.9 cm
Edition of 6 plus 2 artist’s proofs
Koak
Catastrophe, 2022
Signed and dated on verso
Graphite, pastel, gouache, and casein on pale blue rag paper
8 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches / 21.6 x 16.5 cm
Koak
Facade, 2022
Signed and dated on verso
Oil, acrylic, flashe, and graphite on canvas
108 1/2 x 84 inches / 275.6 x 213.4 cm
Koak
Away, 2021
Signed and dated on verso
Flashe, acrylic, oil, graphite, and milk casein on linen mounted to panel
77 1/2 x 62 inches / 196.8 x 157.5 cm
Koak
California, 2021
Signed and dated on verso
Flashe, acrylic, graphite, pigment, and chalk on linen mounted to panel
77 1/2 x 62 inches / 196.8 x 157.5 cm
Koak
June, 2021
Acrylic, oil, graphite, chalk, charcoal, pastel, casein, and flashe on canvas
77 1/2 x 62 inches / 196.8 x 157.5 cm
Koak
Bench, 2020
Signed and dated on verso
Cast bronze and walnut
86 x 34 1/2 x 31 inches / 218.4 x 87.6 x 78.7 cm
Edition of 3
Koak
Cat (With Downward Tail), 2017
Bronze with custom patina
21 × 8 × 19 inches / 53.3 × 20.3 × 48.3 cm
Edition of 10
EXHIBITIONS
PRESS
A Return To Feeling: The Dynamic & Emotion-Infused Art of KOAK
VIDEOS
Koak: The Window Set at Charleston in Lewes
Tamarind Talks: Koak
CV
Born 1981, Lansing, MI
MFA, California College of the Arts, 2016
BFA, California College of the Arts, 2011
Lives and works in San Francisco, CA
Solo Exhibitions
2027
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco, CA [forthcoming]
Below Here a Deep Well, Perrotin, Tokyo [forthcoming]
2026
Still Weather, Union Pacific, London [forthcoming]
2025
The Window Set, Charleston, Lewes, Sussex
2024
Lake Margrethe, Perrotin, Paris
2023
The Canary, Bibeau Krueger, New York, New York, USA
Letter to Myself (when the world is on fire), Altman Siegel, San Francisco, CA
2022
The Driver, Perrotin, Hong Kong
2020
Return to Feeling, Altman Siegel, San Francisco, CA
2019
Holding Breath, Union Pacific, London
2018
Breaking the Prairie, François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Seed for Planting, Walden, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2017
Bathers, Alter Space, San Francisco, California, USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026
Wallflowers, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
2025
Dénonce‑moi, dépendance, Brussels, Belgium
Interior Motives, Hauser & Wirth, London
2024
leafmold paradise, Union Pacific, London
Infinite Regress: Mystical Abstraction from the Permanent Collection an Beyond,
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
2023
October +, Perrotin, Paris
Summer Escape, Gaa Gallery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA
Crafting Radicality: Bay Area Artists from the Svane Gift, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
I’ve Got a Feeling, Musées d’Angers, France
2022
I’m Stepping High, I’m Drifting, and There I Go Leaping, XIAO Museum, Rizhao, PRC
Heroic Bodies, Rudolph Tegners Museum and Statue Park, Dronningmølle, Denmark
AMT Salon, Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin, Germany
A Few Small Nips, Mrs. Gallery, Maspeth, New York, USA
Familiars, Et al. Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA
2021
New Time: Art and Feminisms in the 21st Century, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA
Women on Women, Collaborations, Copenhagen, Denmark
Grants and Awards
2022
Tamarind Institute Residency, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
2020
Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco, California, USA
2018
Liquitex Residency, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, California, USA
Selected Press
2024
Vitello, Gwynned. “Koak: The Journey to Lake Margrethe.” Juxtapoz. Fall 2024 (cover feature).
2023
Urist, Jacoba. “Meet the 5 Women Artists Who Own New York This September.” Cultured Magazine. September 7, 2023.
Blue, Max. “Thirty Local Artists Add Works to the de Young Museum Collection.” San Francisco Examiner. August 9, 2023.
Dauber, Annie. “Review: Koak’s ‘Letter to Myself (when the world is on fire)’.” Juxtapoz. February 2023.
2022
Lok, Kate. “In Conversation with Koak.” Cobo Social. July 11.
Schuster, Clayton. “A Return to Feeling.” Hi-Fructose. June.
Pricco, Evan. “Koak Is ‘The Driver’ Now.” Juxtapoz. May 16.
Permanent Collections
de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, KS
Musées d’Angers, Angers, France