What he's really interested in is immortality.
The artist, who grew up in Mississauga, but travels around the world showing and creating art, is one of five finalists up for the award. The winner, to be named during a gala reception Oct. 1 at the Royal Ontario Museum, receives $50,000.
The four runners-up receive $5,000.
When queried about the artistic motives behind his mixed-media piece, God, which garnered Koh the nomination, the artist had a simple reply.
"I have aspirations for immortality," he wrote in an e-mail to The News from New York City, where he's overseeing another art project.
The sculpture, an obvious take on The Last Supper, features a mixture of items including a dozen human skeletons, wax, sugar, sake, absinthe, cognac, champagne and even the artist's own bodily fluids. According to his artist statement, Koh's art typically address the beauty and sublime transcendence of emptiness, the intertwining of all realms of life and death and the constellations or dark matter that create the isolated worlds in which we live.
The money means little to Koh. He said winning an award doesn't provide any impetus to create.
"I try to do my art from as little as possible," he wrote. "Love is free."
If he does win the $50,000, Koh said he'd probably give it to his parents, who live in Mississauga.
Born in Beijing, but raised in Mississauga, Koh is especially proud that his works will hang in an exhibition at the ROM, running Aug. 27 to Oct. 13.
"I am proud to be Canadian and showing in Canada for the first time," he wrote.
cclay@mississauga.net
