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C.K. Koh received a Bachelor of Art and Visual Communication from the University of Central England in 2007. Now a lecturer as well as a painter, C.K. has exhibited at numerous prominent exhibitions across Southeast Asia and has gained respect and attention for his manga and pop culture influenced artworks. Inspired by popular culture, anime and childhood cartoons, C.K.’s painting renders a satirical view of iconic superheroes presented through characters with box heads. With these characters, he explores a variety of themes - hope in a not-so-perfect world; the idea of lying; good versus evil as well as personal experiences. Combined with contemporary concerns, these themes question current social, political and cultural environments.

The highlights of his career involve solo exhibitions ‘Pandora’s Boxes’ at One Gallery (2008), ‘Lucha no Libre’ at Metro Fine Art Gallery (2009), and ‘Ultraflat’ at NN Gallery (2011). Noteworthy group exhibitions include the Humanitarian Advocacy through Art Competition (2008) of which he was a finalist, ‘Queenie Chow & C.K. Koh Joint Exhibition’ at NN Gallery (2008), ‘Garis’ at Metro Fine Art Gallery (2010), the Visual Art Award at Starhill Gallery as a finalist and at the Young Contemporary Art Award at National Art Gallery Malaysia (2010). His work can be seen in the ‘Do Noses Grow When Lies Are Told’ publication published by Magicbird.

Quackendriver depicts two of his idiosyncratic box head characters in a wrestling bout. A narrative about the fight between good and evil, the characters in his paintings are in Mexican free wrestling (lucha libre) garb. The painting revisits his series of lucha no libre paintings, about which the artist states is an exploration of the subject of lies. To C.K, lying is a characteristic exclusive to humans and that wrestling can be a form of lying. The masks that wrestlers wear is a symbol of career and wrestling persona and in Mexican wrestling, losing the mask is not only an insult, but the equivalent of losing one’s career. Here, a struggle ensues with both wrestlers fighting to remove each others’ mask. The theme of the piece alludes to how people wear ‘masks’ and create their own personas depending on need, perhaps also indicating the struggle in ourselves to reveal or hide our true personalities as well as the importance of taking off the ‘masks’ we choose to wear.