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Do Ho Suh

Reflection

New York

Nov 29, 2007–Feb 2, 2008

Sculpture by Do Ho Suh

201 Chrystie St

New York, NY 10002

To inaugurate our new second location at 201 Chrystie Street, Lehmann Maupin Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition of Reflection by Do Ho Suh, a continuation of the exhibition at Lehmann Maupin Gallery’s Chelsea location at 540 West 26th Street.

Reflection expands Suh's series of architectural spaces comprised of translucent fabric. During 1990s the artist replicated a number of homes he inhabited at various times around the world. These all culminated in The Perfect Home (2002), an amalgamation of Suh’s fragmented visual memories. Following The Perfect Home, Suh turned towards specific structures of transition such as staircases, hallways, and gates. "The space I'm interested in is not only a physical one, but an intangible, metaphorical and psychological one. For me, space is that which encompasses everything. So in that sense, one could say that my art looks at diverse forms and media through the prism called reflection on space" (Suh, 2003). Reflection is a replica of the gate between the main house and the children's bedroom of Suh's parents' home in Korea. The double gate separated by a translucent floor was first exhibited at the Hermes headquarters in Tokyo and this will be its premier in the United States. The artist believes that the doorway of the gate was intentionally designed low so that all those entering and leaving the home were obliged to bow theirs heads as a way of showing respect. Suh has faithfully re-created each aspect of the original gate from the dragon design to the brickwork. The fabric –– flexible, transparent, porous, and permeable ––blurs the boundaries and conventional definitions of the object. He views it not only as a gate –– or rather the memory of a gate –– but also as a space for individual contemplation. In this way, the viewer is asked to meditate on how one remembers images and space and how these aspects open questions regarding the human mind.

Installation view of Reflection at Lehmann Maupin New York
Installation Views: 1 of 3
Portrait of Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh (b. 1962, Seoul, Korea; lives and works in London, United Kingdom) works across various media, creating drawings, film, and sculptural works that confront questions of home, physical space, displacement, memory, individuality, and collectivity. Suh is best known for his fabric sculptures that reconstruct to scale his past and present homes and studios in Korea, Rhode Island, Berlin, London, and New York.

Suh is interested in the malleability of space in both its physical and metaphorical forms, and examines how the body relates to, inhabits, and interacts with that space. He is particularly interested in domestic space and the way the concept of home can be articulated through architecture that has a specific location, form, and history. For Suh, the spaces we inhabit also contain psychological energy, and in his work he makes visible those markers of memories, personal experiences, and a sense of security, regardless of geographic location.

Learn about the artist