photo: KIOKU Keizo
Staircase
| Artist | SUH Do Ho |
|---|---|
| Year | 2003 |
| Material/ Technique | translucent nylon |
| Size/ Duration | dimensions variable |
| Copyright Notice | © Do Ho Suh |
| Year of acquisition/ donation | 2005（作品購入年月日：2005/03/31） |
| Description | Born in Seoul, Korea in 1962. Lives and works in London, UK.
After studying Oriental Painting in Seoul, Do Ho Suh moved to the United States in 1991 to attend Rhode Island School of Design and then Yale University. His experiences of itinerancy are reflected in a series of work conceived in 1999, which recreate his former homes and studios, to scale, in translucent fabric. These portable houses dissolve borders and cultural differences and hint at a conceptualisation of space that is not fixed, but carried with us. The installation "Staircase" is a full-scale nylon reproduction of the stairs that linked Suh’s ground floor studio in New York to the first and second floors of the building. Suh’s elderly landlord Arthur, who the artist gradually developed a deep friendship with, lived on these upper floors. “Staircase” is part of Suh’s “Fabric Architecture” series: ‘translatable spaces’ that can be folded up and transported in suitcases, and then reinstalled in new destinations. In this series, Suh explores, the definition of public and private domains, and gives form to the porousness of memory. In their transportability, these forms are, in part, survival mechanisms. Suh uses varied techniques and mediums to produce extraordinary work that comments on the condition of ongoing change (metamorphosis). Acutely personal, and yet also universal in theme, Suh’s art questions the meaning of belonging and the notion of home – something that is so fundamental and yet denied to so many. "Home within Home – 1/11th Scale – Prototype" is a 1/11 scale model of a building that combines the traditional Korean house (Hanok) where Suh spent formative years with his family and an American town house which is the first foreign house that Suh lived in after relocating to the US. The Korean house is placed inside the American house. It was made with a process that builds the model up layer by layer. Suh uses special techniques to produce unique works that comment on his previous self and world and a condition of ongoing change (metamorphosis). Suh’s art sheds light on the conditions of contemporary society where many people lack a place where they truly belong. It questions the meaning of home, a place that everyone should have. |
NOTES
This Collection Data page contains the works and materials in the collection of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as of April 1, 2018.
Artists are listed alphabetically by artist’s surname.
Works and materials by the same artists are listed according to the date of the work in principle.
Works whose dates are unidentified are listed at the end of each item. Some works are not listed according to the date of work due to their relations.
The data of works and materials are listed in order of title, production year, material/technique/form, dimensions, donor’s name, copyright holder and credit for photograph.
Dimensions are given by height (H) x width (W) in centimeters for plane work, and height (H) x width (W) x depth (D) in cm for 3-D work. Diameter (Ø) is used for circular work.
For the name of country or city, the name currently used in English is listed in principle.