In Memory of Emil Goh

6 March 1966 – 7 September 2009

Emil Goh was a polymath – artist, designer, writer, photo-blogger, teacher, tech geek and pop and vernacular culture fiend. His fierce intellectual inquisitiveness about absolutely everything was his defining trait. He had the curiosity and wonder of a child, but with an intellect so sharp that it could dissect the mundane to reveal the extraordinary. This was his gift and it shaped his art and design work as well as his approach to life.

There was no doubt that Emil was special. Anyone who met him even for a few minutes could see that – there was the niceness; the sunny, infectious enthusiasm that could win over the hardest of hearts; the keen love for the banal but quirky beauty of the everyday. He had humour, joie de vivre, a winsome nature and an enormous appetite for food and life.

We will all miss seeing the world from his eyes. (written by Wendy Gan, a close friend of Emil Goh)

Born in 1966 in Malaysia, Emil Goh spent his childhood in various parts of Malaysia and Singapore. He gained his Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney and Master of Fine Art at Goldsmith College, London. His work dealt with urban life, technology and design, which were exhibited widely in Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong. Having been based in Australia during his earlier career, he then moved to Korea where he lived until the end of his life. Emil was the first speaker for the 'Artist Talks' series at Asia Art Archive.