Ottokaji Iroke
Ottokaji Iroke
Ottokaji Iroke (1989) is a contemporary artist in the Hague who grew up in Seoul. He loves profound eternity in simple objects and critical insights through light jokes. He often uses everyday objects and recontextualises them. The way he works begins with his daily routine. He starts his day at 5 in the morning with a drawing on a 365-page calendar, then trains jiu-jitsu at 6:30, drinks coffee, and thinks and writes. I do this because it wakes my lungs and my body by bringing oxygen into my bloodstream. At night, he likes to talk with new people. He often uses multicultural jokes to make a conjunctional point, where different perspectives collide. He does not set a border between lifestyle and conventional art mediums. He says, ‘Art is not far from anyone; it is right next to you now.’ He likes to make statements through audio, paintings, sculpture, and installation.
Looking at Ottokaji Iroke’s work, you might conclude that misunderstanding is the default human relation. A ceramic towel reads ‘I said tower’, and a series of mugs deformed beyond recognition is called ‘I said mug, not mud’. Daily watercolours on pee pads continue in the same vein, and a video shot in his bedroom is a rhythmical riff on the distinction between Hamburg and hamburger. For all its humour, Ottokaji Iroke’s play with words, images, sounds and signs often points to an underlying reality of societal tensions. A ceramic Identity Politics Bible is called ‘Ho Lee Fuk’. Trivial observations like the different shapes of croissants in the supermarkets lead to gold-lustred sculptures referring to Nike and the Venus of Willendorf to address thorny questions of food, fitness, success and body image. A word of caution is in order: only the holder of a Universal Passport to the United States of Pizza may safely travel this carefully constructed field of associative meaning.
Instagram: @ottokajiiroke
