Toki Does New York follows Auckland-based Korean intermedia artist, Hye Rim Lee, and her 3D bunny-girl, Toki, as they open a 'make or break' solo show in New York.

Art is not just about making works that look good and Hye Rim shows viewers how pivotal networking, being in the right place at the right time, and working hard is integral to her success. Toki Does New York follows Auckland-based Korean intermedia artist, Hye Rim Lee, and her 3D bunny-girl, Toki, as they open a 'make or break' solo show in New York.

Art is not just about making works that look good and Hye Rim shows viewers how pivotal networking, being in the right place at the right time, and working hard is integral to her success.Toki is the sexually complex subject of beautiful and disturbing video art. Her creator, Hye Rim, is intent on being the next Jeff Koons. Already represented by the most important gallery in Asia, Kukjegallery, this year she's taken on the West. In 2008 Hye Rim's works have exhibited in Berlin, Wellington, Auckland, Shanghai, Seoul, Sydney, Spain and New York City.

The documentary follows bubbly, vivacious and driven Hye Rim and her uber-sexy creation as they open a solo-show at Max Lang gallery in New York's art capital, Chelsea. To add to the pressure, Hye Rim transforms herself into Toki for a live performance with underground musician, Jed Town.

Director Dan Salmon says he has never met anyone who works such crazy hours.

"I think Hye Rim succeeds partly because she comes from a background of success - her father was a famous Korean theatre director, her mother was an opera singer - but also because she is fully committed to her artistic vision and ambition. In every aspect of her work she is a perfectionist, but she doesn't stop there, she is a work of art herself".

Watch Artsville: Toki Does New York for an inside view of the New York art scene, and see what it takes to make it in one of the toughest art cities of the world.

TV ONE, Sunday 21 December, 10.45pm

18/12/08