Yoko OK // yokoisokay (at) gmail
Cartoonist, Illustrator-Designer, Video Editor
Portland, OR
Resume (download .pdf) / LinkedIn
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patreon (support my drawings and music!)
instagram (daily drawing from 2018-present, with a one year break in 2023)
bandcamp (albums 2003-2022)
youtube (assorted video work)
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Photo by Lauren Morrell Tabak for @queerfromhere.
Used with permission.
Upcoming Events
Bay Area book release & reading!
With Vanessa Zucker
Thursday, May 2, 6:30pm
Silver Sprocket - 1018 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA
Summer Story Fest!!!
Saturday and Sunday, June 22 & 23
Portland, OR - more details coming!
Bio
Yoko Oji Kikuchi is a fourth-generation American artist, musician, zinemaker and video editor of Japanese and Filipino descent. Born and raised in NYC, she grew up drawing and making comics, before switching her focus to music and photography.
In November of 2018, a handful of years after relocating to Oakland, CA, she began reconnecting with her drawing skills for the first time in almost two decades, by drawing once a day and sharing the drawings on Instagram. Since then she has drawn over 1500 drawings, had nine exhibitions, released 7 zines, and has been active in selling her work.
Now based in Portland, OR, she has been freelancing as an illustrator, designer and video/audio editor for organizations such as SF Urban Film Fest, Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages, Oakland Asian Cultural Center and ABO Comix, as well as for individuals (see the Commissions section). Get in touch to hire her! You can also support her work on Patreon and get access to secret songs and comics.
CV
Education
Certificate of Achievement in Video Editing and Post-Production
City College of SF, San Francisco, CA 2022
BFA in Fine Art with a Concentration in Photography
Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA 2003
Commissions (selected)
2023 February Japanese-American Oakland: Remembering
Oakland’s Thriving Japanese-American Community Before WWII - Map commissioned by Oakland Asian Cultural Center in honor of Day of Remembrance. Funded by the California State Library Civil Liberties Grant. Oakland, CA
2021 July Night School Potluck @ Pop-Kultur Festival, Berlin, Germany - Stage banner design, zine cover
2021 May Sunrise Over Bernal - Indoor Mural, Cafe Seventy8, San Francisco, CA
Group Exhibitions
2023 July-Sept Summer In The Sunset @ Sealevel SF, San Francisco, CA
2023 May Pyramid Scheme @ Bass & Reiner, San Francisco, CA
2023 March The Coming of Spring @ Crisis Club Gallery, organized by Rolodex Gallery, Oakland, CA
2023 January Banana Art @ A Blank White Box, Los Angeles, CA
Solo Exhibitions (selected)
2022 May-June Cafe Seventy8, San Francisco, CA
2022 Jan-March Mars Record Shop, Oakland, CA
2021 Aug-Sept Luckyduck Bicycle Cafe, Oakland, CA
2021 June-July Cafe Seventy8, San Francisco, CA
2020 Jan-March Revolution Cafe, San Francisco, CA
2019 September Black Spring Coffee Company, Oakland, CA
2019 March Hasta Muerte, Oakland CA
Past Events (selected)
2024 April Mother Monday (A Reading) @ Superfine, Brooklyn, NY
2024 Mar Comics Club! (A Reading) @ IPRC, Portland, OR
2023 Dec EBABZ (East Bay Alternative Book & Zine Fest), Oakland, CA
2023 Nov Planet Of Zines 3 @ the blank gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2023 Nov Short Run Comix & Arts Festival, Seattle, WA
2023 Oct Portland Zine Symposium, Portland OR
2023 Sept SF Zine Fest, City View @ Metreon, San Francisco, CA
2023 August ASIAN INVASION @ Museum of Art & Digital Entertainment, Oakland, CA
2023 July E14 Gallery AANHPI Event, Oakland, CA
2023 June UCSF Zine Fest, San Francisco, CA
2023 June Hive Video Show @ Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2023 May L.A. Zine Fest @ Expo Arts Center, Long Beach, CA
2023 May Planet of Zines 2 @ the blank gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2023 May AAPI night @ Berryessa Night Market, San Jose, CA
2023 May Dear Diary Zine Fest @ Humanist Hall, Oakland, CA
2023 April Santa Rosa Zine Fest, Santa Rosa, CA
2023 March Fun Music Show @ Ivy House, Brooklyn, NY
2023 February Day of Remembrance Map Release Party! Art Talk & Panel, Oakland Asian Cultural Center
2023 February Lunar New Year x Black History Month Event @ Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland, CA
2022 December Betwixt The Holidaze #2, @ Rubulad, Brooklyn, NY
2022 December Albany Print & Zine Fest - Albany, CA
2022 December EBABZ (East Bay Alternative Book & Zine Fest), Berkeley, CA
2022 December Oakland Creates (Zine & Art Fest), Oakland, CA
2022 September SF Zine Fest @ Metreon, San Francisco, CA
2021 April YALA Gala, panelist via Zoom
2020 July Bushwick Book Club Oakland, performer via Zoom
2020 June Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, performer via IG Live
2020 March Art opening at Revolution Cafe, San Francisco, CA
2020 February Valentine’s Day @ Beauty Supply, Oakland CA
Publications (selected)
2024 May/June (upcoming) Homecooked zine (contributor, with thanks to my mom and grandma) - a zine of recipes put together by A’misa Chiu and friends!
2024 Feb Mixed Rice Zines - Queering Friendships #3: The Collab Issue (contributor in collaboration with Jessica Martinez)
2023 Dec Plica Fimbriata Anthology!
2023 June 8 Years No Drinking Risograph Mini-Zine
2023 May Street Sheet SF - WTF WF? (8 Panel Centerfold)
2023 May Party On! Zine Issue #5 by Jessica Martinez (cover illustrations)
2023 April Plica Fimbriata #4 - Who Will Hold Your Strings? (self-published zine)
2023 March whet zine - the anthology (featured artist)
2022 November Yoktoberzine (self-published zine)
2022 September Textured Elevation #2 - A Zine About Maps (contributor/editor-in-chief)
2022 January Plica Fimbriata #3 - A Yearbook In Comics (self-published zine)
2021 June Textured Elevation #1 - A Zine About Maps (contributor/editor-in-chief)
2021-2022 Boog City - Monthly Comics Contributor
2021 July Night School Potluck Zine (for Pop-Kultur Festival Berlin), cover art and contributor
2021 November The Backbone Project Issue #1 - Mothers & Daughters (contributor in collaboration with my mother, Helen Oji) [link]
2021 February Party On! Zine Issue #4 by Jessica Martinez (contributor, cover illustrations)
2021 January whet zine - the resistance issue (contributor)
2021 January Plica Fimbriata #2 - The Pandemic Issue (self-published zine)
2021 Fall/Winter Ninth Letter (contributor - front cover and interior photographs)
2020 September Plica Fimbriata #1 - Pre-Pandemic Issue / self-published zine
2020 July whet zine - the local issue / contributor
2020 July Party On! Zine Issue #3 by Jessica Martinez / illustrator
2019 March Party On! Zine Issue #2 by Jessica Martinez / contributor
Discography (selected)
2022 October - Dibson T Hoffweiler & Yoko OK - Cat Music (EP)
2022 April - Dibson T Hoffweiler & Yoko OK - House of Hidden Life (EP)
2021 March - Dibson T Hoffweiler & Yoko OK - People Pleasing
2018 October - Yoko OK - Immediacy
2017 April - Tight Little Ship - self-titled
2012 January - Yoko OK - Menahan Tree
2008 September - Yoko OK - How To Stay Amazed/Lilly Lafayette double album (released as Yoko Kikuchi)
2008 May - Dream Bitches - Coke-and-Spiriters
2006 September - Yoko OK split w/Casey Holford, This Song/That Song 7” (released as Yoko Kikuchi)
2005 February - Dream Bitches - Sanfransisters
More Cool Stuff
Zines Available At:
Iridescent Daydream, Portland, OR (books and prints too!)
Cosmic Monkey Comics, Portland, OR
Bluestockings Cooperative, New York, NY
Silver Sprocket - San Francisco, CA
Crisis Club Gallery - Oakland, CA
Needles & Pens - San Francisco, CA
Reviews
Review of Plica Fimbriata #1-3
(zines of autobiographical comics & daily drawings)
by Jim Poe, June 2022 (link) (read within this site)
Review of Plica Fimbriata #2 and Textured Elevation #1
for Boog City, by Tony Tone, July 2021 (link)
Interviews
Interview with Yoko OK by Alison OK Frost, March 2021 (video)
Interview with Yoko OK by Sara Lautman for Boog City, June 2021 (text)