The show that remains in my memory is Do Ho Suh show The Perfect Home II at the Brooklyn Museum. There was only one work of art which is a full-scale replica of his former apartment in New York. He recreated his studio apartment using translucent and different pastel shades of fabric such as pink, blue and green.
The Perfect Home II was disappointing even though I have loved his works for a long time. I believe that his works are effective when we look very closely and experience the ambiance of the space including the color, details, and texture. In Suh's work; the details are shocking. His art is like walking a fine line between the near perfect details of house equipments and the inevitable imperfections in the delicate sewing. However, in the display at the Brooklyn Museum, we had to look at a distance. The show feels like just getting information about him and the work by wall texts and Art 21 video, not experiencing his intention and the handicraft of the construction.
I agree that it is convenient to reflect on the role of the institution to assess the exhibition of Do Ho Suh. It is true that there were a few hours assigned to enter the installation and it is understandable the need for conservation rules, but conditioning the visit in such relevant way, the sense of the work itself is conditioned. The work of Do Ho Suh is remarkable because it focuses on what seems to be forgotten in contemporary society. Starting from the architecture, its corners and recesses, the details of the objects, their measurements and the proportions, demands our attention to talk about time, tradition, intimacy, spirituality, home. His work is a rigorous and subtle exercise of dedication to decipher through the small things that accompany us and define us, the meaning of the experience of life.
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ReplyDeleteI highly agree with your point of mentioning the importance of the Do Ho’s works uniqueness of requiring the sensitive looking and experiential way of understanding. Moreover, because the effect of walking through the space of his work and experiencing that dreamy space is one of the essential elements to understand his work, in your review, mentioning this point was good to know what Do Ho tries to explore. To add something for the recommendation, I think it would be better to describe a little bit more about Do Ho’s works as the point of translating space and time. In other words, his work is well known as the concept of the shifting of space and displacement. His understanding of the memory of the specific space and time is also a significant issue to understand his work, so it might help to improve the review.
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