Do Ho Suh

September 7 - October 7, 2000
540 West 26th Street

Press Release

Lehmann Maupin is pleased to announce an exhibition by artist Do-Ho Suh. This will be Suh's first solo show in the United States.

Do-Ho Suh was born in Seoul, Korea in 1962. He received a BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University. For over a decade, Suh has exhibited work at group exhibitions in both the United States and Korea and could recently be seen in PS1's "Greater New York" show and "Koreamericakorea" at the Artsonje Center, Korea. Earlier group exhibitions include "Techno/ Seduction" at The Cooper Union, "Do-Ho Suh/ Royce Weatherly" at Gavin Brown, and the 20th São Paulo Biennale. His honors and awards include a Skowhegan Fellowship, Korean Arts Foundation of America Award, and a Chanil Foundation Fellowship. Do-Ho Suh currently lives and works in New York.

Suh's exhibit at Lehmann Maupin will be a site-specific installation that utilizes the gallery, including floor and walls, to investigate notions of space and relate to the viewer his experience of transcultural displacement. As Suh has stated, "My desire to guard and carry around my very own intimate space makes me perceive space as infinitely movable. I experience space through, and as the movement of displacement. Space, for me, becomes intrinsically transportable and translatable." This culturally relevant installation will probe into the various dimensions of personal space and its relationship to individuality, collectivity, and anonymity.

Upon arrival, the viewer will encounter an extremely large welcome mat created by hundreds of tiny figures. Much like his wallpaper and prints, the mat involves repetition and subtlety in a most intriguing way. From afar, minor variations in color create the illusion of an anonymous whole. However, upon close inspection, thousands of faces or hundreds of tiny bodies will suddenly be recognized.

In the same vein, the show will culminate in a transformation of the main gallery floor. There, viewers will find themselves physically engaged by walking across a glass floor supported by over 180,000 small plastic figures of both sexes and different races. Separated out, each figure is a fragile entity. As a whole, the thousands of tightly packed figures are capable of withholding tremendous weight. Power and collective strength come at the expense of private, interpersonal and individual space.

Artists in this exhibition

• Do Ho Suh

Press

• Art in America Download PDF ()
• New York Times Download PDF ()

Exhibition Works

Floor, 1997-2000 PVC Figures, Glass Plates, Phenolic Sheets, Polyurethane Resin 40 parts each: 39.37 x 39.37 x 3.15 inches 100 x 100 x 8 cm LM1806


Doormat: Welcome (Green), 2000 polyurethane rubber 50 x 100 inches 127 x 254 cm Edition of 3 LM2625


Floor (detail), 1997-2000 PVC Figures, Glass Plates, Phenolic Sheets, Polyurethane Resin 40 parts each: 39.37 x 39.37 x 3.15 inches 100 x 100 x 8 cm LM1806


Doormat: Welcome (Green), 2000 (detail) polyurethane rubber 50 x 100 inches 127 x 254 cm Edition of 3 LM2625


Doormat:Welcome (White), 2000 polyurethane rubber 19 x 28 x 1.25 inches 48.3 x 71.1 x 3.2 cm signed Edition of 5 LM2441


Who Am We? (multi), 2000 (detail) four-color offset print on paper 25 sheets each: 24 x 36 inches 61 x 91.4 cm LM2669


Who Am We? (Red), 2000 iris print on somerset paper 35 x 47 inches 88.9 x 119.4 cm LM2524


Table, 2000 PVS figures on phenolic board, glass plate, stainless steel table frame 32 x 80 x 39 inches 81.3 x 203.2 x 99.1 cm LM2626


Haunting House, 1999 ink and colored pencil on paper 5.75 x 4.25 inches 14.6 x 10.8 cm LM2599


Haunting House, 1999 ink on paper 5.75 x 4.25 inches 14.6 x 10.8 cm LM2601


Haunting House, 1999 ink and colored pencil on paper 11 x 14.25 inches 27.9 x 36.2 cm LM2604


My Country, 1999 ink on paper 11 x 14 inches 27.9 x 35.6 cm LM2603


My House, 1999 ink on paper 11 x 14 inches 27.9 x 35.6 cm LM2602


Seoul Home/L.A. Home, 1999 ink on paper 11 x 14.25 inches 27.9 x 36.2 cm LM2605