DO HO SUH 093
structures it feels as though you are travelling back through time, moving between cultures, countries and even psychological states. ‘Practically it’s impossible to have all these spaces in one place,’ Suh has explained. ‘So the work is related to my long-held desire to blur the boundaries of geographical distance.’ Indeed, the notion of collapsing space is central to these works, which the artist describes as ‘suitcase homes’, a term that relates to a Korean expression referring to the hanok – a house that could theoretically be disassembled, transported and reassembled at a new site. As Suh has said, his desire is to ‘carry my home with me all the time, like a snail’. Besides his fabric works, Suh is known
for his labour-intensive Rubbing/Loving projects, in which the contours of architectural surfaces are recorded through rubbing with graphite or coloured pencil on paper. One of the most ambitious of these, and on show at Tate Modern, is Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home, 2013-22. Te decade-long
Left Suh studied traditional Korean art in his home country before migrating to the US in 1991
Right Nest/s, 2024, is a new installation on display at Tate Modern
Right below The exhibition culminates in a space dedicated to Suh’s ongoing Perfect Home: The Bridge Project
endeavour began with the artist completely covering his childhood home in Seoul with hundreds of small sheets of Mulberry paper. Suh then painstakingly traced each contour and texture of the building, rubbing every surface with graphite, from its terracotta tiles to its wooden beams. ‘It’s like caressing a surface, like you caress your lover,’ Suh has said of the process. ‘Tere is also a level of intensity because you can’t slacken, you cannot miss an area. You have to cover every surface. So there is a lot of devotion and caring through the process.’ Suh’s house, which was designed by his
father (a respected Korean philosopher and ink painter) in the 1970s, is a traditional Korean home based on a building in Gyeongbokgung Palace, the main palace of the Yi dynasty in Seoul. Built out of concern for the loss of Korean tradition as vernacular residences were being torn down and replaced by modern housing blocks, the home symbolises the father’s desire to
preserve Korean tradition. Suh’s paper stayed fixed to the building’s exterior for months, becoming weathered and worn before being cut away and painstakingly reassembled onto a wire frame to form a ghostly replica of the house. For Suh, his childhood home is a very special place, filled with memories of his upbringing and the special relationship he had with his father. Tis is why he has revisited the building time and time again, creating numerous pieces based on its interior and exterior spaces. ‘Tis is where my father spent most of his time’, Suh has explained. ‘All my upbringing was located there. Te house is like a self-portrait, but it’s a portrait of my father as well.’ Te title Rubbing/Loving plays on the
difficulties that native Korean speakers encounter when pronouncing English words beginning with the letters ‘R’ and ‘L’, which results in them sounding almost identical. But for Suh, the action of rubbing is also
It feels as if you are travelling back through time, moving between cultures, countries and even
psychological states
PHOTO: DO HO SUH
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117
