Do Ho Suh: Polyester Sculptures

Specimen Series, Polyester Fabric
Photos by Taegsu Jeon.

Seoul-born artist Do Ho Suh is well known for his gravity defying, ghostly architectural installations and polyester sculptures. His work investigates the themes of the perception of our surroundings and how one is able to construct memory from a space.

The Perfect Home II (detail), 2003.
Translucent Nylon.

Wielandstr. 18, 12159 Berlin, 2011.
Polyester Fabric.

Blueprint, 2010.
Translucent Nylon.

Do Ho Suh received a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and a MFA in sculpture from Yale University. Interested in the malleability of space in both its physical and metaphorical manifestations, the artist constructs site-specific installations that question the boundaries of identity. His work explores the relation between individuality, collectivity, and anonymity.

Installation view, Hayward Gallery, London, 2008.
Polyester and stainless steel.

Home Within Home, Installation view
Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea.

Perfect Home, Installation view.
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan.

The work draws on his own feeling of displacement, when he arrived in the U.S. in 1991 from his native country. His studies at (RISD) led him to measure spaces as a way of establishing a relationship with his new environment. Later in his career, he developed the idea of taking these measurements and using them to replicate and transport spaces using textiles, resin and styrofoam.

Home Within Home – Prototype, 2009-2011.
Photo sensitive resin.

Installation view, Seattle Art Museum.
13 October 2011 – 8 January 2012.

Paratrooper-II, 2005.
Monofilament, resin, nylon, poly organza, stainless steel armature.

Paratrooper-I (detail), 2003.
Linen, polyester thread, cast stainless steel, cast concrete.

Do Ho Suh’s work is represented in numerous museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art andSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; Tate Modern in London; Mori Art Museum in Japan amongst others. The artist lives and works in New York, London, and Seoul.