Past Solo Exhibition
Do Ho Suh: New Works 07.11.2015 — 02.01.2016
Information
Event has ended
7 November 2015 - 2 January 2016
About The Exhibition
The Embassy of the Republic of Korea and STPI is delighted to present Do Ho Suh: New Works , featuring latest works by South Korean artist Do Ho Suh developed during his second residency at STPI. Known for his large-scale fabric installations and sublime architectural compositions of past homes, Suh has seamlessly translated compelling three-dimensional forms into the two-dimensional at STPI, with delicate thread drawings embedded in paper. These reflect the transnational dilemma of home and belonging, malleable spaces and memory, as well as the boundaries of identity.
The exhibition showcased Suh’s lithographies and rubbings – the latter of which he created using pastels over paper-covered surfaces of seemingly unremarkable objects that feature in everyday life, such as electrical sockets, door handles and lift buttons. These sculptural pieces represent the architecture of spaces he feels an attachment to, preserving the experience of living in them through these symbolisms. “Papermaking and printmaking is not a medium that I use all the time,’ stated Suh. “When I came here, I was more open-minded and open to whatever STPI suggested I explore.”
This breakthrough in Suh’s repertoire from his first residency in 2010 marked a significant innovation of working with paper pulp at STPI, leading to the artist’s return to develop these drawings further. “I started to develop the series of thread drawings during my first residency,’ says Suh. ‘In many ways, it was very successful for me and for STPI as well. So naturally it led to the second residency”.
Personal and largely autobiographical, these works also address universal journeys and experiences, provoking viewers to reflect on stories that define their own real and imagined lives.
This exhibition was part of the Korea Festival 2015 in celebration of Korea’s 70th anniversary of liberation and 40 years of diplomatic ties with Singapore.
About the artist
Do Ho Suh
Residencies in 2009, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
Do Ho Suh (b. 1962, Seoul, South Korea; based in London, United Kingdom) works with drawing, sculpture and film to explore how space is mediated, inhabited and remembered. He confronts its fluid and psychological character across various categories—domestic and public, physical and immaterial, mobile and fixed—to examine ideas of selfhood, belonging and home.
Suh’s works are often autobiographical, such as renowned life-size sculptures of his former residences, constructed with translucent fabric and suspended for viewers to meander through. On a more intimate scale, he meticulously recreates household items like switches, plugs and door handles in the form of pastel rubbings on paper. These works point to Suh’s preoccupation with how bodies relate to and interact with the built environment, suggesting that our surroundings shape us just as much as we shape them.
Suh obtained a BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design, New York in 1994, and his MFA in Sculpture from Yale University in 1997. His work is in several major collections including 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate, London; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Notable solo exhibitions include (2025), Tate Modern, London; (2024), Art Sonje Center, Seoul; (2024), Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; (2022), Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; (2019), Los Angeles County Museum of Art,; (2019), Victoria & Albert Museum, London; (2018) Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar; (2018) ARoS, Aarhus; and (2018), The Brooklyn Museum, New York. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including (2013), 4th Asian Art Biennial, Taichung; (2013) 5th Auckland Triennial; (2012), 9th Gwangju Biennale; (2010), 6th Liverpool Biennial; (2003), 8th Istanbul Biennial; (2002), Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane; and (2002), 13th Biennale of Sydney. Suh represented Korea at (2001), 49th Venice Biennale, Venice.
