Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh

1962–present · South Korean

Do Ho Suh arrived at Yale in 1997 with a dual education in Korean traditional painting and Rhode Island School of Design sculpture behind him, an unusual combination that shaped everything he would make afterwards. His most celebrated work, the "Seoul Home" series begun in 1999, reconstructs his childhood house in Seoul at 1:1 scale using translucent polyester fabric and silk, so the building seems to breathe and collapse simultaneously. Each iteration is retitled to acknowledge wherever it is shown, the home perpetually in transit.

Key facts

Born
1962, South Korean[2]
Movement
[2]
Works held in
1 museum[1]
Wikipedia
View article

Biography

The work asks what it means to carry a place inside yourself. Suh has spoken about his move to the United States as a period of acute spatial disorientation, of floors that felt wrong underfoot and ceilings at the wrong height. That estrangement became the engine of his practice. "Floor" (1997–2000[2]), 40 glass panels supported by 180,000 cast plastic figures, makes the point literally: anonymous bodies holding up the architecture we take for granted.

Suh represented Korea at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001 and moved from New York to London in 2010, adding yet another layer to the ongoing project of inhabiting multiple places at once. "Fallen Star" (2012) placed a blue wooden cottage at an absurd angle atop the Jacobs Hall engineering building at UC San Diego, the domestic colliding with the institutional six storeys up. His work is held by MoMA, the Guggenheim, Tate Modern, and LACMA, among thirty or more institutions worldwide. He received the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts in 2017.

Timeline

  1. 1962Born in South Korea.
  2. 1997Arrived at Yale University, having studied Korean traditional painting and sculpture at Rhode Island School of Design.
  3. 1997Created "Floor", consisting of glass panels supported by 180,000 cast plastic figures (completed 2000).
  4. 1999Began the "Seoul Home" series, reconstructing his childhood home at 1:1 scale using translucent polyester fabric and silk.
  5. 2001Represented Korea at the 49th Venice Biennale.
  6. 2010Moved from New York to London.
  7. 2012Created "Fallen Star" at UC San Diego, placing a blue wooden cottage atop the Jacobs Hall engineering building.
  8. 2017Received the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts.

Notable Works

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Albert Oehlen

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Amy Sherald

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is Do Ho Suh known for?
    Do Ho Suh is known for his large-scale, translucent fabric reconstructions of architectural spaces, particularly his childhood home in Seoul. He is also recognised for his installations that explore themes of home, displacement, and the relationship between personal and institutional spaces.
  • Who was Do Ho Suh?
    Do Ho Suh is a Korean artist who works with sculpture and installation art. He is known for exploring themes of spatial disorientation and displacement, often related to his own experiences of moving between Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He represented Korea at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001.
  • What was Do Ho Suh's art style?
    Do Ho Suh's art style incorporates elements of sculpture and installation, often dealing with themes of space and architecture. His work often involves large-scale reconstructions using non-traditional materials like translucent fabric.
  • When was Do Ho Suh born?
    Do Ho Suh was born in 1962[2].

Sources

Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Do Ho Suh.

  1. [1] museum Victoria and Albert Museum Used for: museum holdings.
  2. [2] wikipedia Wikipedia: Do Ho Suh Used for: biography, birth dates, death dates, identifiers, movement attribution, nationality.
  3. [3] book Dorling Kindersley, Artists: Inspiring Stories of the World's Most Creative Minds Used for: biography.
  4. [4] book Rugg, Judith, Exploring Site-specific Art Used for: biography.
  5. [5] book Fred S. Kleiner;, Gardner's Art Through the Ages Used for: biography, stylistic analysis.
  6. [6] book guggenheim-hugo00newy Used for: biography.
  7. [7] book guggenheim-hugob00gugg Used for: biography.
  8. [8] book guggenheim-mediascape00klot Used for: biography.
  9. [9] book Fred S. Kleiner, Helen Gardner, Kleiner & Mamiya, Gardner's Art through the Ages, Western Perspective, 16th edition, Vol. 2, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Used for: stylistic analysis.

Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-24. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.

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