MCA Museum of Contemporary Art

Do Ho Suh

04 Nov 2022 - 27 Feb 2023

Do Ho Suh, Hub series, installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2022, polyester fabric, stainless steel, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, © Do Ho Suh, photograph: Anna Kučera
Do Ho Suh, Hub series, installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2022, polyester fabric, stainless steel, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, © Do Ho Suh, photograph: Anna Kučera
Do Ho Suh, Hub series, installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2022, polyester fabric, stainless steel, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, © Do Ho Suh, photograph: Anna Kučera
Do Ho Suh, Hub series, installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2022, polyester fabric, stainless steel, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, © Do Ho Suh, photograph: Anna Kučera
Do Ho Suh, Staircase-III, 2010, installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2022, polyester fabric, stainless steel, Tate: Purchased with funds provided by the Asia Pacific Acquisitions Committee 2011, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, © Do Ho Suh, photograph: Anna Kučera
Do Ho Suh, Hub series, installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2022, polyester fabric, stainless steel, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, © Do Ho Suh, photograph: Anna Kučera
Do Ho Suh, Staircase, 2007, watercolour on paper, image courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul and London, © Do Ho Suh
Do Ho Suh, Blueprint, 2014, thread embedded in cotton paper, image courtesy the artist and STPI–Creative Workshop & Gallery, Singapore, © Do Ho Suh
Do Ho Suh, Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home, 2013–2022, work in progress, Seoul, image courtesy and © Do Ho Suh, photograph: Min Jung Lee
Do Ho Suh, Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home, 2013–2022, work in progress, Seoul, image courtesy and © Do Ho Suh, photograph: Min Jung Lee
A major new survey by internationally renowned artist Do Ho Suh, opens today at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), as part of the 2022-2023 Sydney International Art Series. This is the first solo exhibition of the South Korean artist’s work in the Southern Hemisphere. Exclusive to Sydney, the extensive exhibition will premiere the new installation, Rubbing/Loving Project: Seoul Home (2013–2022).

Do Ho Suh (born 1962, Seoul) is known for his large-scale sculptural and installation works which address the often-complex relationships between the body, memory and space.

This is the artist's first solo exhibition in Australia and represents one of his most comprehensive projects to date. It spans three decades, from the 1990s to the present, and encompasses key works across a wide range of media including sculptures, installations, drawings, printmaking, and video works.

Diasporic experience and the space between different cultures and histories is a recurrent refrain within the works, which situate the home at the centre of our shared physical and psychological experience.

Scale is central to Suh's artworks, which vary from small, singular objects - door handles, plugs and switches, light bulbs - through to full scale replicas of the domestic spaces and studios he has inhabited over the course of his life. Realised in diverse materials, from steel military 'dog tags' to fabric to mulberry paper, these intimate and evocative artworks can be walked around, through and within.

The MCA exhibition delves into Suh’s ongoing exploration of belonging, identity and home. Encompassing portraiture and architectural references, Suh’s works have a distinctive biographical dimension in their evocation of the artist’s childhood and schooling in South Korea, the family home in which he grew up, and his relocation to cities including New York, Berlin and London and the various spaces he has lived in as an adult.

The Sydney-exclusive exhibition is curated by guest curator Rachel Kent, Chief Executive Officer, Bundanon Trust NSW, with MCA Associate Curator Megan Robson.
 

Tags: Rachel Kent, Do Ho Suh