Do Ho Suh: “I explore the personal space.”
An exploration of what “home” means.
”I am interested in the space that moves along with me, or that I move with me; the space I try to move with me because I want to, because it is important to me; or the space I have to move with me because I am forced to; or the space that just tags along with me without my being conscious of it–the space that I create for myself and the space that is imposed on me; the space in/through which I feel good, protected, comfortable, liberated, and the space that is imposed on me and therefore oppresses, confines, and alienates me. I explore the personal space as the combination of tension between these two force fields, and how the boundaries of the personal space are drawn.”
Biography
Do Ho Suh was born in 1962 in Seoul, South Korea. He had received a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University. During his career, he has staged international solo exhibitions and site-specific projects in numerous well-known venues, such as the Contemporary Arts Centre in Cincinnati and he represented Korea at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001.
Do Ho Suh, who has lived in many different countries such as South Korea and America, is currently living and working in London.
Suh’s artworks are particularly influenced by his South Korean military service’s experience and by the traditional Oriental painting he was trained to. He is internationally well-known for his site-specific installations which shows his ability to adapt sculptural artworks to a large scale space while examining the relationship between identity and anonymity. This is a specific theme which is directly linked with artist’s whole existence: he has lived in numerous countries so that, he is strongly focused on the connection between the single individual and the creation of social groups among different cultures.
The traditional pattern used in Suh artworks is a repetition of schemes to show the multiplicity of human individuality. With this specific practice, the artist creates architectural structures with translucent and colored polyester fabric.
The artist employed unusual materials and objects, such as lattice of fishing nets resembling tornado-like forms, empty uniforms, small plastic figures and his own high school yearbook photos to reflect on how each individual boundary extends into the collective space. In his 2003 artwork called “Some/One”, a silhouette of a traditional Korean robe is created by thousands of military dog tags amassed together. A perfect example of how individuals are normally exploited to shape the society’s groups.
Suh’s artistic creativity is even better expressed through his large-scale public interventions in cities. Mobile hotels and compact dwellings on existing tower blocks or buildings reflect upon cultural authenticity in our contemporary connected world.
Emblematic Projects
Network (2010)
Net-work was installed on the beach for the 2010 Setouchi International Art Festival. The artwork is made of interconnected small figures which, seen from a distance, resembles a fishing net.
Floor (2002)
Floor was presented during his very first European survey exhibition in the Serpentine Gallery, in 2002. The installation is made up by 180,000 miniature plastic figures with raised hands supporting sheets of glass.
Dwelling spaces and household appliances show artist’s ability to manipulate both physical and immaterial impressions. Specifically, Korean homes are important in the artist imaginary: open environments constituted of living functions rather that physical structure conserving nostalgic memory. Spaces which shows the flow of movements rather than fixed environments.
Suh’s portable modules of space are considered as connecting spaces between different cultures and continents. In fact, these sculptural installations are designed to fit artist’s suitcase and to represent his perfect companion while traveling the globe. Nomadism against the sense of protection: another theme which is reported in Suh’s artistic expression. Every new house reflects artist experience in different stages of his life, matching together to merge his whole life into one single piece of art. Due to the usage of a perfectly constructed model, houses still resemble transitory spaces.
Some Exhibitions
(2017) Do Ho Suh | Passage/s, Victoria Miro, London
(2016) Looks Good on Paper, STPI, Singapore
(2016) Singapore Biennale 2016: An Atlas of Mirrors, Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Singapore
(2016) Home Land Security, FOR-SITE Foundation, San Francisco
(2016) Mungo Thomson & Do Ho Suh, Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis
(2016) Do Ho Suh, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego
(2016) Recent Editions: Jay Heikes, Do Ho Suh & Mungo Thomson, Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis
(2015) Do Ho Suh: New Works, STPI, Singapore
(2015) MAM Collection 002: Existence and Space — Suh Do Ho + Po Po, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
(2015) Apparitions: Frottages and Rubbings from 1860 to Now, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
