Do Ho Suh

Born in Seoul, Korea, in 1962, Suh is a sculptor and media installation artist most known for his large-scale recreations of homes and everyday objects that he has encountered through his life.

Best known for his intricate sculptures that defy conventional notions of scale and site-specificity, Suh draws attention to the ways viewers occupy and inhabit public space. In several of the artist’s floor sculptures, viewers are encouraged to walk on surfaces composed of thousands of miniature human figures. (Art21)

Suh is a son of one of Suh se-ok, one of most notable painter from South Korea’s first wave of contemporary abstract art movement. He was known for utilizing traditional medium of ink brush painting method in his work. Similarly to his father’s approach, Suh often use silk fabrics in his architectural sculptures which is also a traditional medium in Korea.

After earning his BFA and MFA in Oriental Painting from Seoul National University, and fulfilling his term of mandatory service in the South Korean military, Suh relocated to the United States to continue his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University.

Suh’s overall encompassing theme throughout his career has been about how we perceive our memory. For Suh, home speaks of the "experiments with coexistence," he puts it, designed to address such feelings of estrangement.

"I’m interested in digging history, or untold stories, from behind the walls. Using the space as a means to understand the path of my life and the time I’ve spent there. Most of us are just passing through these buildings, and I’m very aware of all the others who have lived there before.”

- Do ho Suh