For this week’s response, I looked at the work of Do-Ho Suh and read the interview of him on designboom. When I look at the artist’s works, I can’t help but be reminded of the work of Surrealism and Dadaism which were popular in the early to mid 20th century. One such art piece that comes to mind is Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” piece where he took a urinal and changed its environment to make it become something else. One artist that he was inspired by was Felix Gonzalez-Torres, who would make installations with various items like candy and allow the viewers to take the candy and use that to symbolize death. In most of Do-Ho’s art pieces, he uses found objects to comment on aspects of society, whether it was American or Korean society was up to him.
Like Marcel, Do-Ho Suh used objects that were associated with one aspect of society like the military and used it as something else. In the piece ‘Some/one’, he took thousands of military dog tags and linked them together so as to make a dress out of them. This was done to illustrate that every soldier was part of one large body and were not just individuals. This comment on the military seems exactly what a surrealist would do in order to bring this to the attention of the people in order to get a reaction to it. When I look at this piece, I feel a sense of awkwardness knowing that these people served their country and yet their tags are used to make a dress which seems like an odd choice of clothing to me. It seems like something an emperor would wear to show his bond to his military or his victory over his enemies.
In conclusion, I think that Do-Ho Suh was an artist that could be linked to the Surrealism/Dadaism movements of the early to mid 20th century. His art seems to reflect the attitude of someone who finds it necessary to use found objects to comment on society. He also reminds me of other artists that would use found objects to create a more conceptual piece like Tate Gallery and Tracy Emin. His subject matter would include many different aspects of society as well as himself including the military dress and the arch way to his family home in Korea. Do-Ho Suh was an interesting person and one of many who should be thought of if anyone considers Surrealism as inspiration for future art.
