Mid-term assignment

My artist’s of choice’s name is Do Ho Suh. He was born in Seoul, Korea in 1962. After earning his BFA and MFA in Oriental Painting from Seoul National University, and fulfilling his term of mandatory service in the South Korean military, Suh relocated to the United States to continue his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University. Kwon, Miwon said in 2002: “He is interested in the malleability of space in both its physical and metaphorical manifestations; Do Ho Suh constructs site-specific installations that question the boundaries of identity.” His work tend to express the relation between individuality, collectivity, and anonymity. So in this blog, I will focus more on his achievement in the sculptures.

Considering his background, he left Korea in 1991 to distance himself from his father’s established reputation as a painter and to study at the Rhode Island School of Design. After arrive New York, he found himself longing for his native home and unable to sleep. Much of his art is an attempt to express the feeling of missing his home. Such as one of his show called Home Within Home at Lehmann Mauplin Gallery in New York, his works examined the concept of home and attempts to explain what it means to identify with a place. That is also represented the cultural displacement and cultural identity.

Secondly, his colorful sculpture works and the special materials that he used for his work attracted me at the first. I was surprising of the simple beautiful color arrange and the complex fancy huge works. For example, one of his works named Floor, from the description by Indianapolis Museum of Art: "It is closer examination, and these a revealed to be the small palms of figures assembled below the floor. Hundreds of multicolored men and women crowd together with heads upturned and arms aloft. The collective strength of this Lilliputian group supports the weight of individual visitors who step up onto the floor grid." That is a huge project; it’s hard to think about how long he needs to make it.

His achievements also represented in his work’s exhibition. His works have influenced over the world. According to his own website: "He represented his works in numerous museums including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, the Tate Modern, London, UK, Artsonje Center, Seoul, Korea, and the Mori Art Museum."

In conclusion, Do Ho Suh is really a grateful artist. It was hard for a foreigner artist stand in the U.S, especially in the worldwide. I am glad to continue to do the research of his works and understand more about him. Also, it is a wonderful visual process to appreciate his works.