Tuesday 3rd November // TEXTILES REMOTE WORKSHOP

DO HO SUH

Image 1: https://www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/do-ho-suh

Image 2: https://www.wallpaper.com/art/do-ho-suh-passages-exhibition-victoria-miro-london

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbL4jsC0itw&ab_channel=BloombergQuicktake

Overall, I really enjoyed watching this short documentary and I am curious to know more about his work. It is very humble and I think that reflects his personality quite well.
Korean sculptor. Works in the US, UK and Korea. Uses his experience as a Korean individual in his art.
He combines his personal experience which is equally relatable to many. For example, looking at the concept of home. We all know what home is and what it means to leave that home but Do Ho Suh visualises that ‘comfort’ and ‘desire’ that we attach to home. His veil like houses (Image 1) are impressive to look at but I find that his smart use of material presents it as memory. It’s a body of work I would love to see because pictures cannot do justice to the experience of looking up and tracing the contours of a seemingly familiar home.
For me, I have always steered away from including personal anecdotes within my work and only trying to appeal to a larger audience but from hearing Do Ho Suh say that ‘ I don’t know how I would make anything without my own experience’ made me reflect a bit more. So far, my projects have been about others and their possible emotions. I have come to realise that the emotion that I have experienced can only be best described by me.
Although he does look at personal experiences, he attaches it to a pollical or historical event. If I aim to include other context behind my work, I think I wouldn’t be as uncomfortable with sharing personal stories within my work.
His ambition of experimenting and not treating failure as failure was inspiring. He is open to exploring new mediums and from that, the technique of rubbing (Image 2) caught my eye. It’s a very simple technique using paper to capture texture but him playing with scale gives it that extra flair. I would like to apply the rubbing technique using paint, charcoal or oil pastels to see how each medium will create a different finish.
Near the end of the video, Do Ho Suh compares his process of learning to ‘breathing’. Doing this course, I understand what Do Ho Suh means; The process of being unsure that I am going through right now is essential to allow me to pick something I will truly in which I can express myself.

CHIHARU SHIOTA

Image: https://www.wallpaper.com/art/chiharu-shiota-under-the-skin-monograph

When I first saw Shiota's work, it looked to me like a screenshot of an odd dream or a fantastical movie held in tension. Just like Do Ho Suh, Shiota's work is one to experience in real-life. In a way its a chilling scene but also that of immense emotion- It is as if Shiota translated the rush of painting into 3D installation.
In an interview with TheTalks, Shiota described her process of creating: 'I have to make art in space, and I am never sure how it will look like in the end. Other artists create art in the studio, a space that is familiar to them, but I create artwork in the museum or a gallery space. So it never feels cathartic… It is rather the opposite; I often feel a struggle'
I was curious about whether her work was done directly at the location or at a studio and her honest statement as an artist about the struggle of not being in a familiar location is fascinating. I can imagine how tough it would be to create something without a final image in mind. Personally, I like knowing what I am doing before jumping into a process however this thought is only limited to certain practices. For example, creating a logo or a product. For things such as experimentation, I enjoy the feeling of the unexpected since I have no end target. It's a completely opposing statement but if when balanced well, I can introduce my experimentations into a final piece.
The artists work is rooted in 'emotion', 'connection' and 'memory'. I have come across the term memory quite often now- The revelation of erasure essay, the memory of home (Do Ho Suh) and explored the memory of war in my own work but I am still intrigued. We all dream and have poignant memories but I don't think about translating this hazy scene into an art form. This is something I would love to look into.

Article: https://the-talks.com/interview/chiharu-shiota/

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