Oscar yi Hou

Oscar yi Hou, Coolieisms, aka: Sly Son Goku, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.

Oscar yi Hou, Cowboy Kato Coolie, aka: Bruce’s Bitch, 2021.
Photo by Jason Mandella. Courtesy of the artist and James Fuentes.

Oscar yi Hou, Fire Snake of El Barrio, aka: Sunflower, 2021.
Photo by Jason Mandella. Courtesy of the artist and James Fuentes.

Oscar yi Hou, Forlorn fire-escape flowers, aka_ New York strings of life, 2020.
Photo by Jason Mandella. Courtesy of the artist and James Fuentes.

At Columbia, yi Hou critically examined the country’s nation-building myths and histories of westward expansion. Research into stories of cowboys and coolies fueled new threads in his paintings, which continue to be complicated by notions of desire and queer kinship. In school, yi Hou also became more critical of his intentions to paint underrepresented people, of what he described as “a simplistic representational politics.” He was questioning his role as a sort of spokesperson when he read about Trinh T. Minh-ha’s deliberate framework of “speaking nearby” rather than “speaking about.” The filmmaker’s approach to ethnography has since been a grounding ethos for his practice. “When I was first reading all these texts and encountering all these thinkers, I was like, ‘Shit, I’m not going to represent anyone ever again. Like, is this violent?’” yi Hou said. “Trinh T. Minh-ha was a lifejacket, a rubber ring.”

Artsy Editorial by Claire Voon, March 14, 2022

Oscar yi Hou

https://oscaryihou.com/

trinh t. minh-ha

http://trinhminh-ha.squarespace.com/