Frieze London 2019Booth C7

In its debut at Frieze London, STPI is pleased to unveil a remarkable solo presentation of new works on paper by acclaimed South Korean artist Do Ho Suh.

Suh's oeuvre reflects the transnational dilemma of home and belonging, malleable space and memory, and the boundaries of identity. Suh's long-term collaboration with STPI began in 2009, where he developed a repertoire of Thread Drawings based on his discovery of fusing fabric sculptures with sketches of figures and architectural elements on paper pulp. 'Thread' represents the core material in his seminal fabric installations; 'drawing', on the other hand, is the intimate, personal medium that Suh employs in his sketchbook as an idea board for technical or quick doodles that help resolve issues with his sculpture. Since his technical breakthrough with STPI, the artist has since returned to develop and translate cultural displacement and concepts of self into enchanting two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms of greater complexity and scale.

In particular, the works on view will feature Suh's newly executed Thread Drawings created in STPI's Creative Workshop this year. An expansion of Suh's visual vocabulary, lived bodies and spaces are carefully articulated by the playful yet laborious gathering of multi-coloured threads. The fluid fibres trace the confluence of Suh's own presence and the rendered interiors and exteriors, connotating the intimate, unifying connection between the home and the self, held delicately yet resiliently by strands of personal narrative and history.

Besides his thread-based drawings, the artist's other explorations include lithography, etching, and a continuation of the ongoing project Rubbing / Loving, where everyday objects are coated in paper and rubbed with pastels. These works act as symbols of memory, as within them the artist preserves his experience of living within spaces of attachment. A more recent development of Suh's work is his exquisitely detailed Cyanotypes—a printing process that articulates familiar images as silhouettes in rich shades of cyan blue, further illuminating ideas of self, identity and home.

Held in conjunction with the solo presentation of Suh at STPI's first participation at Frieze London, the book launch of Do Ho Suh: New Works on Paper at STPI is set to be held at Victoria Miro, London. Published by STPI and DelMonico Books*Prestel, this new milestone publication documents the artist's thrilling breakthroughs in the area of print and paper over nearly a decade of collaboration with STPI. It is accompanied by more than 200 illustrations and 3 in-depth essays by contributing writers Martin Coomer (independent writer, critic and editor), Sarah Suzuki (Curator, Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art, New York) and Allegra Pesenti (Associate Director and Senior Curator, Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California).