Many art students at Austin Peay State University try to find new ways to get inspired and learn how to get started in their career field. The APSU’s The New Gallery brings out artists of different forms to give lectures about their work to students. This week, on Sept. 25, The New Gallery welcomed Erick Oh.
Erick Oh is a successful animation artist and director but he had a long journey to get where he is now. Oh studied Fine Art at Seoul National University located in Korea and continued on to study film at UCLA in the United States. Oh eventually started an internship with Pixar Studios where he later got a job offer in 2010. Oh is most famous for his work with Pixar where he designed many characters that most Disney fans know and love such as Merida in “Brave” and Hank in “Finding Dory.”
After six years with Pixar, Oh decided to part ways and collaborate with Baobab Studios, an animation studio company.
Oh continues his collaboration with Baobab Studios and in 2022 produced “Namoo,” a short animated film paying tribute to his late grandfather. He also directed the episode “Onari’s Kushi Power” of 2022’s Oni: Thunder God’s Tale. This show would score “Best TV/Media – Limited Series” and “Best Production Design- TV/Media ” at the 50th Annual Annie Awards.
His most recent project, “O: An Erick Oh Retrospective,” is an immersive exhibition built around two of his earlier works, Opera and ORIGIN, with a new composition, Orbit. These three pieces from what he names “The Triology,” launched in April 2024. This production weaves projection art and physical installations into a thematic experience exploring humanity’s past, present and future.
By using multiplane camera techniques, Oh’s design connects traditional filmmaking with a more avant-garde approach. A focus of his exhibit is a globe covered with human figures. This piece sees people as creators while also being destroyers, challenging viewers to contemplate our roles in nature and society.
“O: An Erick Oh Retrospective” is housed at the House of Refuge in Aewol, Jeju, South Korea.
After giving his lecture, Oh left with advice for art students. “As a student, spend more time digging deeper into yourself….how can [you] be differentiating your style compared to others.”
More of Oh’s work can be found on his website http://erickoh.com . To know what other artist lectures are to come during the semesters, can be found at https://www.apsu.edu/art-design/thenewgallery/ .
