Born in Seoul, Korea, studying in America, and now based in New York and London, Do Ho Suh (b. 1962) travels the globe pursuing his practice, and as a man on the move, repeatedly probes the never-ending questions of where he comes from, and what he is.The dynamism of the works of Suh, products of meticulous technique and countless hours of handwork, bears handcraft elements from Suh’s native Korea, and the strength arising out of group solidarity that could be described as a mark of the Asian character. Since the mid-1990s, Suh has built full-scale “house” motifs using semitransparent cloth to create, among other dwellings, the traditional homes of his birthplace, and his apartment in the United States, in a series of stunning soft sculptures attracting considerable comment. The “houses” in which we spend so many vital hours of our lives are places that nurture our identities, and by recreating their spaces and structures, Suh questions where public and private, faraway birthplace and current abode, land of our memories and real places meet, and the lines between them.
