Ocula Report 4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale: Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life 15 Feb 2019 : Natalie King for Ocula 'Poems are like sentences that have taken their clothes off.' Marlene Dumas' poetic and sensual refrain accompanies her figurative watercolours on view in Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life, the fourth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) in the southern state of Kerala, India (12 December 2018–29 March 2019).Dumas' new series...
Ocula Conversation Ellen Altfest The paintings of Ellen Altfest are ethereal in their detail. Fields of minutiae come together as pulsating images; small brushstrokes of oil paint accumulate over a series of months to single out seemingly innocuous subjects, such as a hand resting atop patterned fabric (The Hand, 2011) or a deep green cactus reaching upwards from beneath a bed of...
Ocula Report Colomboscope 2019: Cross Currents and Dissonance 8 Feb 2019 : Nada Raza for Ocula On the rooftop of the former Rio Hotel complex in Colombo, it was hard to ignore the high-rise buildings, still under construction, blocking all but a sliver of what used to be an open view over Slave Island, once an island on Beira Lake that housed slaves in the 19th century, and now a downtown suburb. The hotel was set alight during the...
Do Ho Suh (서도호) is a Korean sculptor and installation artist. After completing his BFA in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in sculpture at Yale University, Suh fulfilled his mandatory service to the South Korean military before returning to his artistic practice. Spatial and psychological migration is a central theme in Suh’s work, particularly as the artist divides his time between New York, London, and Seoul.
Suh’s works question the identity of the individual in an increasingly globalised society and explore how people inhabit public spaces. In his installation Some/One, Suh recalls his time spent in the South Korean military by layering the gallery floor with military dog tags. This work, among several of his others, questions the strength of the individual versus a group. His sculptures and installations defy preconceived notions of large scale works with their intricate detailings. Of particular interest is the notion of home and what constitutes the concept of home. The artist explores this through his works that use transparent fabric to create details from his parents home, and creates ghostly objects that evoke the sense of loss and memory.
Do Ho Suh’s work is held in collections worldwide including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Tate Modern, London; Artsonje Center, Korea; and Mori Art Museum, Japan. His Recent exhibitions have included Specimen Series at Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong (2013-2014), and New Works at STPI, Singapore (2015).
Suh represented Korea at the 2010 Venice Biennale, the 2010 Liverpool Biennial, and the 2012 Gwangju Biennial. A retrospective of the artist’s work was held at the Seattle Art Museum and Seattle Asian Art Museum in 2002.
Do Ho SuhAs yet untitled, 2017 Thread drawing, gelatine sheet embedded in STPI handmade cotton paper
Do Ho SuhRefrigerator, Unit 2, 348 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011, USA, 2015 Polyester fabric, stainless steel wire, and glass display case with LED lighting
Do Ho SuhRubbing / Loving STPI Artist Studio 60 41 Robertson Quay Singapore 238239, 2018 Pastel on paper
Do Ho SuhRubbing / Loving STPI Artist Studio 55 41 Robertson Quay Singapore 238236, 2018 Pastel on paper
Do Ho SuhAs yet untitled, 2017 Thread drawing, gelatine sheet embedded in STPI handmade cotton
Do Ho SuhAs yet untitled, 2018 Thread drawing, gelatine sheet embedded in STPI handmade cotton paper
Do Ho SuhAs yet untitled, 2017 Thread drawing, gelatine sheet embedded in STPI handmade cotton paper
Ocula Conversation Phong Bui Curator, 'Bloodflames Revisited' In March 2014, a show opened at Paul Kasmin Gallery titled Alexander the Great: The Iolas Gallery 1955–1987, which celebrated the legendary gallerist Alexander Iolas, who was among the first to introduce American audiences to Surrealism and who gave Andy Warhol his first gallery exhibition (and, coincidentally, also his last in 1987). The...
Ocula Conversation Do-Ho Suh Artist, South Korea Do-Ho Suh has a lot going on. When I meet with him he has just arrived from Korea following the opening of his most ambitious project to date – the installation of his work Home Within Home Within Home Within Home Within Home at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul. The site specific installation involved...
Ocula Report MMCA Seoul's First Steps 12 Nov 2013 : Ines Min for Ocula South Korea’s most anticipated event of the year, the opening of MMCA Seoul, is a milestone for the national museum and local art scene. The new outpost of South Korea’s singular, national contemporary art museum is situated on a minefield of historic structures, set within a zoning law nightmare, and sandwiched between...
Ocula Conversation Rachel Lehmann Founding Partner of Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong Rachel Lehmann is not only one half of the gallery powerhouse that is Lehmann Maupin, but she is also an international citizen of the world. Lehmann was born in Asmara, Ethiopia, and studied at the University of Fribourg in France. She worked at the legendary Sonnabend Gallery in New York, and was the proprietor of two contemporary galleries in...
Related Press Do Ho Suh’s spatial explorations launch at Victoria Miro in Venice Wallpaper* : 30 May 2018 The South Korean artist Do Ho Suh, is a perfect complement to ‘Freespace’, the theme of the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. His fascination with rendering the built environment appears to suggest both form and memory in his work, which straddles drawing and sculpture. Victoria Miro gallery’s exhibition in Venice is the result of a three-year...
Related Press Do Ho Suh in Venice: the lives of others Financial Times : 11 May 2018 'The house we were born in is more than an embodiment of home, it is also an embodiment of dreams.' The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard's tender observation, made in his hymn to architecture, The Poetics of Space, speaks eloquently to the art of Do Ho Suh.
Related Press Do Ho Suh Artomity Magazine : 6 September 2017 Every now and then you encounter an artist who resonates so deeply with you that they become a reference against which you assess all others. Do Ho Suh is one of them for me. I first discovered his work at his first Hong Kong solo exhibition, here at Lehmann Maupin, when his ongoing Specimen Series, small apartment fixtures and appliances...
Related Press Do Ho Suh Awarded Ho-Am Prize for the Arts ArtAsiaPacific : 28 April 2017 Korean sculptor and installation artist Do Ho Suh was announced as one of the recipients of the Ho-Am Prize in late April. Renowned for his large-scale fabric pieces, Suh was honored for his contribution to the arts and his distinguished accomplishments in his field.
Related Video & Audio How This Globetrotting Artist Redefines Home and Hearth Smithsonian.com : 11 April 2018 You are invited into Do Ho Suh's apartment. You put down your bag, remove your coat and step inside. The hallway changes color as you proceed, first pink, then green and then blue. It's narrow, but it feels spacious. There is a red staircase outside, and beyond it people are moving around. You can see them, right through the walls. Cabinet handles...
