ART-PRESENTATION:Do Ho Suh-Passage/s

Do Ho Suh, Passage/s 2016, Polyester fabric on stainless steel pipes, Dimensions variable, © Do Ho Suh, Courtesy the Artist, Lehmann Maupin New York/Hong Kong and Victoria Miro-London
Do Ho Suh, Passage/s 2016, Polyester fabric on stainless steel pipes, Dimensions variable, © Do Ho Suh, Courtesy the Artist, Lehmann Maupin New York/Hong Kong and Victoria Miro-London

Do Ho Such is internationally acclaimed for scholastic, captivating sculptures and installations that relate to his personal experiences living in both Eastern and Western cultures. The artist moved from South Korea to the U.S.A. in 1991 to attend the Rhode Island School of Design inspired his focus on the house as a primary subject.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Victoria Miro Gallery

In “Passage/s” Do Ho Suh’s first exhibition with Victoria Miro Gallery, the artist presents new fabric sculptures conceived especially for the Gallery space, including a walk-through configuration of “Hubs”, a range of his works on paper and for the first time are on presentation works created by a new process in which Suh’s signature architectural pieces are compressed into two-dimensional ‘drawings’.   Reimagining and reconstructing his various homes such as his childhood home and Western apartments, Do Ho Suh creates works of art that highlight the porous boundary between public and private space, and explore notions of public versus private space and global identity, space, nomadism, memory, and displacement, Suh’s translucent fabric structures give form to ideas about migration, transience and shifting identities. The artist’s move to London provides a thematic and emotional touchstone for this exhibition. “Hub, London Apartment” (2015), is a partial representation of Suh’s London home. It will be joined by other “Hubs” including an evocation of his London studio to create a walk-through configuration of structures occupying the space, encourage the viewer to pass through the ephemeral, dreamlike representation of the artist’s personal history. Rendered in blocks of translucent color, the fabric walls at once conceal and reveal the details articulated within. The exhibition includes a selection of works on paper, rendered in thread, watercolor, and pencil, as well as videos. The exhibition also introduces a new process, in which Suh’s signature architectural pieces, such as a staircase and a gate, are compressed into large-scale two-dimensional drawings. Using gelatin tissue, the works are sewn in the same way as Suh’s architectural fabric pieces. Once immersed in water, however, the gelatin dissolves to leave an image in which the threads appear like a skeletal framework against the coloured form of the object. These works draw parallels between architectural space and the body, while continuing Suh’s career-long investigation into the porous boundaries of identity.

Info: Victoria Miro Gallery, 16 Wharf Road, London, Duration: 1/2-18/3/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00,  www.victoria-miro.com

Do Ho Suh, “Entrance, Unit G5, Union Wharf, 23 Wenlock road, London, N1 7SB, UK”, 2016, Thread drawing, gelatin sheet embedded on STPI handmade cotton paper, 228 x 355 cm, Produced at STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery-Singapore, © Do Ho Suh, Courtesy the Artist, STPI and Victoria Miro-London
Do Ho Suh, “Entrance, Unit G5, Union Wharf, 23 Wenlock road, London, N1 7SB, UK”, 2016, Thread drawing, gelatin sheet embedded on STPI handmade cotton paper, 228 x 355 cm, Produced at STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery-Singapore, © Do Ho Suh, Courtesy the Artist, STPI and Victoria Miro-London

 

 

Left: Do Ho Suh, “Main Entrance, 348 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011, USA”, 2016, Thread drawing, gelatin sheet embedded on STPI handmade cotton paper, 336 x 229 cm, Produced at STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery-Singapore, © Do Ho Suh, Courtesy the Artist, STPI and Victoria Miro=-London. Right: Do Ho Suh, Passage/s, 2016, Polyester fabric on stainless steel pipes, Dimensions variable, © Do Ho Suh, Courtesy the Artist, Lehmann Maupin-New York/Hong Kong and Victoria Miro-London
Left: Do Ho Suh, “Main Entrance, 348 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011, USA”, 2016, Thread drawing, gelatin sheet embedded on STPI handmade cotton paper, 336 x 229 cm, Produced at STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery-Singapore, © Do Ho Suh, Courtesy the Artist, STPI and Victoria Miro-London. Right: Do Ho Suh, Passage/s, 2016, Polyester fabric on stainless steel pipes, Dimensions variable, © Do Ho Suh, Courtesy the Artist, Lehmann Maupin-New York/Hong Kong and Victoria Miro-London