Kate Oh
Kate Oh
케이트 오
호 - 연지당 ( 蓮池堂 )
646-286-4575
Affiliation
16th President, Korean New York Artist Association. INC
Docent at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, US, 2004 - Present
Instructor of Korean Folk Traditions at Rutgers University, New Jersey, 2021 - Present
Member of National Association of women Artists (NAWA)
Founder of Kate Oh Gallery, New York, US, 2016 - Present
ShinHan art US Ambassador, 2024 - Present
KFAA (Korean Fine Arts Association), Chairman of the international committee USA, 2017 - 2020
FACO Federation of Artistic & Cultural Organization of Korea, 한국예총, 2020 - 2024
Korea - US Culture & Art Honorary Ambassador FACO, since 2020 - 2024
Korean-American Cultural Arts foundation USA, Chairman of the New York Chapter
Collections
Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
Princeton University Department of East Asian Studies NJ, US
Wellesley College MA US
Rutgers University (Alexander Library) NJ US
Won Dharma Center, Claverack, NY
Scott Hall, New Brunswick, Rutgers University, NJ US
The Memorial Hall of Korean Buddhist History and Culture, Seoul, Korea
Embassy of the Korean Cultural Center, Beijing, China
Munsusa Temple, Boston, MA, US
Ahnkook Zen Center, Seoul, Korea
Experience
18 Selected Solo Exhibitions
Korean Traditional decorative patterns at Princeton University First Multipurpose room, NJ US, 2025
"Lucky Charm" Exhibition, NY US, 2023
86 Selected Group exhibitions
- Han-Mee Artists Association of Greater Washington "Departure Golden Jubilee Art Exhibition", MD, 2025
- Summer Series 2025, NY
- Minhwa in New York, US, 2025
- Wings of Joy NY, US, 2025
- Spring Art Exhibition KNYAA at KAAGNY, US
- "Endless Knot" Curated by Pema Rinzin, NY
- KNYAA Artists Association, Flushing Town Hall,
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art "Staff Art Show, Off the Greek & Roman Gallery NY, 2024
- NAWA, National Association of Women Artist, Summer small work, NY US, 2024
- Special gust Artist "Tradition, Identity & Future Narrative" at the Salmagundi Club, NY US, 2024
- Asia Week Group Exhibition, NY, 2024
- The Met Staff Art Show 2020 Online Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, 2020
Jury & Teaching Experience (Artist Lectures & Workshops)
2nd Workshop at Princeton University, Korean Traditional decorative patterns, NJ US, 2025
Jury for 9th Annual international Art Competition "Little Things Matter" SMYH Foundation, 2024
Jury "Very Special Art Contest" CIDA, St. John's University, NY US, 2024
National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) Jury for 134th Annual Exhibition, 2023
Lectures and conducts a course on Korean Folk Traditions at Rutgers University, NJ, US, 2022
Jury for 7th "Very Special Art Contest" presented by CIDA (Community Inclusion & Development Alliance), St. John's University Queens Campus, NY, US, 2022
Judge at Youth Art Competition 2022 (Peacemaker), NJ Story, NJ, US, 2022
Korean Traditional Folk Painting Workshop at Zimmerli Art Museum - Rutgers University, NJ, US, 2022
Lectures and conducts a course on Korean Folk Traditions at Rutgers University, NJ, US, 2021
Korean Traditional Crafts Workshop “Moon Over Manhattan”, The Asia Society and Museum, NY, US, 2020
Min-hwa Workshop, Frist Campus Center of the Princeton University, NJ, US, 2019
Min-hwa Workshop, Alexander Library, Rutgers University, NJ, US, 2019
Awards
Artist Award by STEVE M. FULOP, Mayor of Jersey City, US, 2021
12th Annual Korean Artists Gala, KFAA (Korean Fine Arts Association) Special Honorary Award, 2018
“Botanical & Florals” Art Open-Exhibition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, US, "The Ten Symbols of Longevity", Special Merit, 2018
8th Annual "Animal" International Art Exhibition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, US, "Chaekgeori- Family", Special Merit, 2018
Korean-New York Artist Association, US, Achievement Award, 2018
12th KACAF International Art Competition " The Line of Korea ", Achievement Award, 2017
7th Annual “Botanical & Florals” International Open-Exhibition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, US, Special Merit, and Special Recognition, 2017
Korean Fine Arts Association Chairman Award (KFAA), Achievement Award, 2017
6th Annual “Seasons” International Open-Exhibition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, US, Special Merit, and Special, 2017
Recognition
The 32nd Korean Traditional Art Exhibition, Korea Art Gallery, Korea, Excellence Award, 2017
Korea Contemporary Art invitation exhibition, Zagreb Art Pavilion, Croatia, Grand Prize, 2017
The 30th Bohoonart Association, Painting Open-Exhibition, Korea, Grand Prize, 2016
Botanicals Art Open-Exhibition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, US, Special Recognition, 2016
The 9th Healing Arts Contest Exhibition, Woulsan Museum, Korea, Excellence Award, 2016
The 23rd Art International Open-Exhibition, Korea, Excellence Award, 2016
Korean-New York Artist Association, US, Achievement Award, 2016
Embassy of the Korean Cultural Center, Beijing, China, Culture Exchange Contribution Award, 2015
The Federation of Artistic & Cultural Organizations, Korea, Grand Prize, 2015
Korean Fine Art Association Chairman Award (KFAA), Grand Prize, 2014
Contemporary Art Online, “Botanical Theme in May", US, Grand Prize, 2014
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Kate Oh (Trabulsi) is a Korean American artist based in New York. She graduated from Parsons The New School for Design, earning both a B.F.A. and M.F.A. in Fine Arts, with a focus on painting and sculpture
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Since 2004, Kate has served as a docent for the Highlights Tour at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Inspired by the depth and beauty of the Asian art collection at the Met, she developed a deeper appreciation for the fine arts of Asia, particularly the Korean folk painting Minhwa. As an artist, she employs traditional Minhwa materials and techniques while also exploring contemporary Minhwa practices. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions and group shows worldwide.
Kate is a member of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) and will become the 16th President of the Korean-New York Artist Association in 2025. She is also an Ambassador for ShinHanArt US. Kate founded the Kate Oh Gallery in New York and teaches Korean Folk Traditions (Minhwa) at Rutgers University.
작품설명
Spirit, Unity and Enduring-Hope.
I express the natural balance that exists in the Universe through my paintings. I try to visualize the secret order that underlies in the universe that encompasses our individual differences.
My work reflects my sense of a well-balanced Universe that evolves with great mysterious power but accompanying internal order. Each person mirrors this order with a balanced mind, body and spirit.
Each gorgeous flower contains seeds representing dream and hope of an individual. I hope the viewers acknowledge the uniqueness of each blossom and what it entails.
I appreciate people’s difference. Our distinctions and diverse individualities contribute to the intricate balance of the universe we reside. Thus, each must accept and respect distinctions, variations that are a part of the natural order, since these are the essential components that maintain the balance of the Universe.
A City Recharging
By Ekin Erkan, PhD
Kate Oh is one of the bastion artists working in modernizing and promoting traditional Korean culture in New York City. Oh pursues this with her art practice, academic pursuits and her work as a gallerist, operating Kate Oh Gallery, where she frequently curates exhibitions mounting works by contemporary and historical Korean artists. This endeavor, of dovetailing Modernist approaches to the picture plane and traditional Korean folk art, is adeptly evidenced in her new painting, A City Recharging.
The work is, viewed from afar, minimalistic and serene. The fluttering, buttery background makes use of swathes of hay-cream oil, unevenly distributed in strokes that render a slight sense of airy depth. The weighty anchor to the canvas is the central element—the coalesced vertical towering blocks. At the bottom edge of the silhouette is a second skyline, painted in gray shrouded strokes, a horizontal expanse of New York City. In a similarly delicate mode of off-black charcoal, peaks are painted into the top portion of the coalesced tower silhouette. This gives the impression of a natural landscape perched within an urban block.
To the structure’s upper right, a flaxen orb-like sun hangs. To the middle-left, a vermillion-orange sun, a bit smaller, buoys. Lastly, in the lower right is a dark, midnight blue circle presumably the titular moon. Oh’s Stygian skyscraper latticework, which metes out the three celestial spheres, is masterfully rendered. On the one hand, she has achieved dimensionality with black-on-black, the peak and middle elements of this architectural foray bulging as angles, casting shadows and perspectivally rendered, therein showing dexterity in the figure/line relationship. On the other, however, the bottom facets of the skyscraper set is pooled into an even black silhouette, evincing Oh’s erudite command of minimalism. She does not forego simplicity where it is required.
Purposing the moon and sun motifs while inventively distributing the five elements’ colors by way of a minimalist field, Oh’s work not only culls traditional Korean motifs but also traditional formal principles, such as Dancheong’s flatness. Oh’s work is also meta-referential, in a way, as her modernization is also made iconographic, indexed by the subject matter she has pictured: a set of New York skyscraper buildings. This is, to be sure, marked by her own familiarity with the city where Kate Oh resides and operates her gallery while practicing, Korean traditional art, which remains as much a geography-specific art, continuing as a skill requiring apprentice-pupil mentorship and serious, studied, laborious erudition. Oh is one of the select Modernists who possesses such know-how, as demonstrated by this new work, and has brought it to New York.
About Ekin Erkan
Ekin Erkan is a philosopher and art history researcher whose writing has appeared in The British Journal of Aesthetics, Philosophia, and the Journal of Value Inquiry, amongst other venues. Erkan also is an art critic who contributes to the Brooklyn Rail.