Suh Jeong Min 2010-2015 by JanKossen Contemporary

Suh Jeong Min 2010 - 2015

Published by JanKossen Contemporary Ltd

Content The art of Suh Jeong Min

9 - 13

Im Malstrom der Piktogramme

14 - 19

The Mandala Series

20 - 25

The Flow Series

26 - 39

The Element Series

40 - 45

The Rolled Prayers Series

46 - 51

The Korean Roof Series

52 - 61

Biography

Impressum

Cover Traces of Sound in Spiritual Grains Detail Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 150 X182cm / 59”x72” inches 2013 Left Festival VII Detail, 2012 Korean Hanji Paper on wooden frame 73 x 60 cm

The art of

Suh Jeong Min T

he artwork of Suh Jeong-min employs the timeless structures of geometry while simultaneously pursuing an idiosyncratic aesthetic that combines cultural references with unusual formal techniques. These elegant and somewhat imposing works are neither painting nor sculpture, yet have properties of both, and extend recent trends in art such as the privileging of material and the use of language into new territory. For some viewers, Suh’s artwork will arouse curiosity about Korean culture through its attractive, tactile surfaces, while others more familiar with his materials will find themselves rediscovering these materials in new and unexpected ways. Suh builds up each artwork through an accumulation of discrete units of paper rolled into tubes or overlaid so that they resemble thin blocks of wood. Each one contains so many individual paper scraps compressed together that when they are cut by him their ends resemble the horizontal cross section of the trunk of a cut-down tree with its annual rings. These are affixed to the support by Suh with a rice-based glue in either a fairly ordered way, or more randomly to create specific visual effects. He cuts each piece by hand, eschewing machinery for the intentional im-

precision of the personal touch. The paper Suh uses is called hanji, and is made from the inner bark of Mulberry trees. This paper is usually formed into laminated sheets that are pounded to compact the wood fibers, giving it great resilience and durability. The world’s oldest surviving wood block print, the Buddhist “Pure Light Dharani Sutra,” which is Korea’s National Treasure No. 126, was printed on hanji in c. 704 and is still in good condition. Hanji is so sturdy that it was used to make furniture such as cabinets and trays, and as a window covering. As a craft unique to Korea, hanji is considered integral to the culture, and so its use by artists can be considered an acknowledgment of this traditional craft, albeit in a distinctly non-craft way. Its use also shows how an aspect of culture long superseded by technological changes can continue in a transformation from the commonplace to the exceptional §vthrough an artist’s innovative methods. In earlier works on paper Suh used graphite to build up geometric shapes in varying densities, and has retained this compositional device in the wall pieces. From afar, the overall geometry

and patterns within them, made by the arrangement of lighter and darker paper units, give some of these works the appearance of an updated take on the mandala, a schematized representation of the cosmos through a configuration of geometric shapes, here without images of deities. In other pieces Suh arranges the paper units in subtle tonal shifts from light grey to grey-green or blue, or bright yellows and reds, making imagery that appears to hover just outside perception, like distant galaxies seen through a telescope, or fields of grain. These paper units, whether arrayed in concentric circles, set side by side in rows, or set on top of each other like hastily stacked lumber, have a dense bodily presence, and give these works, despite the lightness of the material, a visual weightiness, owing in part to their scale—many of them are the height of an average person and as wide as a picture window. While paper has the connotations of flimsiness and fragility, no such

impression is given by Suh’s work—quite the opposite is true. They appear to be as solid as a building, and although made up of flexible, organic elements, are quite substantial in their final form. They command the wall in a way that causes viewers to take them in from afar as minimalist constructions before their variegated surfaces come into play. These artworks share the characteristic of raised surfaces with wall-relief sculpture, yet are diffusely colored and patterned, like painting. Crossing techiques of two-dimensional painting with those of three-dimensional sculpture, Suh conflates figure and ground so that form creates image. Their merger does not feel forced in this work, but rather natural in the sense that he is true to the nature of the material. On closer inspection, the individual units of rolled and compressed paper give the work a density and presence unlike a typical painting, and command the eye with their teeming mass and detail. The surface abounds with tiny variations in tone and texture, rewarding a prolonged interaction. Even the edges of the paper units, cut on the diagonal or through a block, show infinitesimal variety. The ink that can be seen bleeding through the paper on the incised edges of the rolled-up tubes hint at the contents within, causing the viewer to wonder at their hidden messages. It is in the unseen core of the paper units that Suh’s artwork generates its unique properties, for each scrap of paper comes from other artists’ discards. Traditional calligraphy and literati ink paintings on paper scrolls are cut up to make the paper units, and so their origin as artworks in their own right is subsumed into Suh work, like individuals gathered into a society. Suh compresses these multitudes of creations, the fits and

Lines of Energy III, 2012 Korean Hanji Paper on wooden frame 73 x 60 cm

starts, warm-up exercises and failed attempts, scrawls of ink that seemed important at the time, only later to be found lacking, into these rolls of cut paper, making their origins unrecognizable and anonymous, while preserving them and even celebrating their collective authors. Rather than being seen as wasted efforts, the castoffs Suh has gathered to make his work become a sort of informal collaboration among peers. He seems to acknowledge this implicit collaboration in the piece titled “A Forest of Writing,” in which the ends of the paper tubes are seen tightly packed together, where the title suggests a profusion of language hidden from view, crowded into a sort of archive. The title also echoes a line in the poem “Correspondences” by the poet and critic Charles Baudelaire: “Man passes through forests of symbols,” ones that the artist is more responsive to than others are. This work, like the others, presents a topography of the structural relationship among artists in the cumulative effect of all these individual paper pieces, each an artwork in itself, pressed into a sort of survey of artistic endeavor. One can then see in the ink stains and irregular pigmentation in this work a re-working of traditional Asian painting to bring it into the modernist practice of forefronting materials with minimal change to their characteristics. What appears to be a severance from Asian painting in Suh’s work is instead a continuity of the practice in a new guise, renewed and updated by switching from images created by brushing ink onto paper, to the paper itself, along with its incidental marks and colors, creating an overall form and image. Again, Suh blurs the distinctions between painting and sculpture with these pieces, in keeping with the pervasiveness of multimedia in contemporary art, yet the captivating

surface of each work ultimately derives its formal power by packing in countless pieces of paper marked up in keeping with an ancient mode of art making. While some Western artists have used accumulations of pre-made or found material in their work, such as Arman and John Chamberlin, Suh differs from them in choosing the paper scrolls, which arise from traditional Asian artistic practices, as well as being handmade rather than manufactured. Another key difference is that Suh’s work does not stem from popular culture per se, but from the deeper currents of traditional culture made

Korean House Roof, 2015 Korean Hanji Paper on wooden frame 39.5 “ x 20 “/ 100 x 50 cm

relevant to a contemporary audience through a transformation of materials, as mentioned earlier. The edges of some of Suh’s works have readable snippets of hangeul, the Korean language, suggesting signage or captions, although they probably function more as abstract forms placed randomly. Viewers not familiar with the language might be interested to know that hangeul is a phonetic script, rather than a logographic one in the case of written Chinese, and can be printed both horizontally and vertically. It too, along with the type of paper it appears on in Suh’s work, is indigenous to Korea and reinforces the uniqueness of these pieces in relation to the milieu in which they were made. In other pieces, the paper, rather than being tightly rolled or stacked, is layered in stacks or shaped into massive rolls, suggesting modern printing presses and the industrial uses of paper, although Suh maintains the allusion to scroll painting by adding a wash of ink around them that bleeds into the canvas support. Suh has also continued to use graphite in more recent works, this time not for making drawings, as was mentioned earlier, but in wall pieces with apertures in them that contain dozens of colorful pencil stubs spilling out onto a thickly applied graphite field. These playful works allude to their own making by including the tools that created their dense, dark grey surfaces. The square and rectangular openings holding the pencils echo the similar

geometric shapes found in his other works. Prior to making the constructions with hanji paper Suh painted landscapes in an area of the Korean countryside where communities still live in traditional-styled homes, called hanok in Korean. Seen from above clustered together, these homes, with their distinctive colored-tile roofs, are rendered as nearly abstract horizontal bands that cut across the composition in his paintings. The choice of imagery indicates Suh’s attraction to traditional culture while already hinting at the shift toward abstraction he would make in the more recent artworks. In Suh’s artwork one can sense an attentiveness to timehonored practices in Asian art, particularly the craft of papermaking in Korea and scroll painting, along with an innovative approach to these practices that distills their material essence. Traditions that have been marginalized by the onward rush of technological progress are given a privileged status for contemporary viewers, a new relevance that might have seemed unattainable before. Suh presents aspects of Korean culture in a non-historicized, vital way in artwork that extends the formal possibilities of contemporary art.

Michael Anderson is an artist and curator who has written extensively for publications in the U.S. such as Art in America and Art Issues, as well as international magazines and journals.

Memories of Freedom Cries, 2013 350 x 520 cm Installation view Palazzo Bembo exhibition â&#x20AC;&#x153;Personal Structuresâ&#x20AC;? during the 2013 Venice Biennale.

Im Malstrom der Piktogramme

Suh Jeong Min

alhlsteine, die sich aufeinander drehen, bilden einen sogenannten Mahlgang, in dem das Mahlgut, die Getreidefrucht, gemahlen wird. Dabei löst sich von den einzelnen Körnern, die zuvor von der Spreu getrennt wurden, die Schale, die als Kleie abgesondert wird. Zurück bleibt der Inhalt des Korns, der in Form von Mehl als konzentrierter Nährstoff zur Erzeugung von Grundnahrungsmitteln wie dem Brot dient. Gleichwohl der Vorgang das Samenkorn aufbricht und zerstört, wird im Mahlgang das Mahlgut auf sein Wesensgehalt hin aufgewertet, sein verborgenes Inneres erschlossen. Der Prozess der Transformation, der bei dieser „Veredelung“ stattfindet, gleicht metaphorisch dem Malstrom des Lebens, in dem sich fortwährend die Spreu vom Weizen trennt, unablässig Existenz sich auf ihre Essenz reduziert und das menschliche Dasein auf seinen Sinngehalt heruntergebrochen wird. Nach buddhistischer Vorstellung ist dieser Malstrom das Rad der Wiedergeburten, das Samsara, worin die karmischen Altlasten früherer Existenzen sich

abschleifen, damit die Seele, endlich rein gemahlen, am Ende ins Nirvana abgelöst werden kann und die Daseinsfaktoren sich nicht wieder erneut zu neuem Leben vermischen müssen. Die reliefartigen, abstrakten Bildobjekte des koreanischen Künstlers Suh Jeong Min erwecken beim Betrachter den Eindruck, als sei in ihnen der Malstrom des Samsara ebenso sichtbar wie verborgen am Werk. Dabei fallen in diesem metaphysischen Prozess Mahlgang und Mahlgut in eins zusammen. Die teils im Kreis, teils in linearer Formation angeordneten einzelnen Grundelemente der Objekte wirken in ihrer Gesamtheit und in ihrem Allover wie ein sich drehender Mühlstein oder wie ein im Ablauf und auf dem Fließband befindlicher Mahlprozess, während sie in sich selbst zugleich wie Samenkörner erscheinen, die bereits zermahlen und auf ihren Inhalt reduziert sind. In der dargestellten Bezüglichkeit von Ursache und Wirkung, Prozess und Produkt, Form und Stoff liegt die Besonderheit und die Faszination der Arbeiten von Suh Jeong Min.

Seiner künstlerischen Herkunft nach steht Suh in der Tradition der Tuschemalerei seines Heimatlandes. Er malte anfänglich mit Tusche auf Reispapier und wählte dabei bevorzugt Landschaften, in denen der optische Eindruck der Natur durch die geometrischen Strukturen der in traditioneller Bauweise errichteten Häuser unterbrochen erschien. Die abstrakt wirkenden Lineaturen der Landschaftsansichten lenkten Suh dann allerdings darauf, den abstrakten Formgesetzen selbst und unabhängig von realen Gegenständen zu folgen, um mittels konstruktiver Abstraktion autonome Bildwelten zu schaffen. Das Material dafür fand er im Medium Papier, das ihm bis dahin als Malgrund gedient hatte. Er formte es um und nutzte es fortan nicht länger als Fläche, sondern entwickelte daraus die Bausteine seiner geschichteten Agglomerate. Er verwendet dabei das aus dem Splint des Maulbeerbaums hergestellte koreanische Hanji-Papier, das eine besondere Festigkeit und Haltbarkeit besitzt und deswegen auch zur Fertigung von Möbeln und als Füllmaterial von Trennwänden und Fenstern herangezogen wird. Indem Suh den traditionellen Gebrauchswert des Materials Papier in den Grundstoff seiner künstlerischen Produktion transponiert, bewahrt er es als althergebrachtes Kulturgut und schenkt ihm zugleich eine neue Wertigkeit und einen höheren Bedeutungsgehalt. Seine widerstandsfähige Konsistenz wird zum symbolischen Ausdruck für die Zähigkeit und Nachhaltigkeit, mit der die elementaren Daseinsfaktoren und die karmischen Existenzialien den Malstrom des Samsara und den Kreislauf der Wiedergeburten in Gang halten. Suh verwandelt auf diese Weise das stoffliche Material des Hanji-Papiers in eine inhaltliche Gegebenheit. Ähnlich wie die abstrakte Moderne des Westens Material und verwendete „Fundstücke“ (objet trouvé) in einen erweiterten Sinnzusammenhang stellt und zum Inhalt erklärt, sieht auch Suh im Papier

einen Bedeutungsträger, der die bloße Stofflichkeit transzendiert. Suh verweist auf diese Transzendenz, indem er das Papier nicht als „unbeschriebenes Blatt“ verwendet. Analog zum Verständnis karmischer Gesetzmäßigkeiten, wonach das Dasein als lebende Existenz stets seine Ursache in der leidvollen und schuldhaften Verstrickung des Daseienden und seiner vorangegangenen Leben hat, zieht Suh für seine Arbeiten Papier heran, das mit Schriftzeichen und Piktogrammen beschrieben ist, also Spuren und Zeichen vorhandener Existenzen in bestimmten Daseinsbezügen trägt. In den Kalligraphien wird die Gemütslage des Schreibenden transparent, wodurch sein Seelenzustand und damit seine karmische Situation sichtbar wird. Die „Seelenzeichen“ verwendet Suh nun aber nicht in aller Deutlichkeit und Deutbarkeit, sondern sie erscheinen in der Form eines Palimpsests, worin das Geschriebene völlig anonymisiert ist und seinem Inhalt nach nicht mehr vollständig rekonstruiert werden kann. Dies entspricht wiederum der Vorstellung vom Karma, das seiner Entstehung nach nur schwer einer eindeutigen Ursache und damit einer konkreten Konstellation zuzuweisen ist. Um die Verknüpfung des karmischen Trägermaterials mit den verundeutlichten „Seelenzeichen“ zu bewerkstelligen und daraus ein konstruktives Kunstobjekt zu schaffen, rollt Suh das beschriebene Papier unter starkem Druck zusammen, so dass die Zeichen lediglich als Pigmentspuren durch die Transparenz der gerollten Schichten hindurchscheinen. Zusätzlich zerschneidet Suh dann noch die Papierrollen in zwei Hälften oder in Viertelstücke und zerteilt sie in einheitlich lange Stäbchen. Dadurch wird der Sinngehalt der vormals kalligraphierten Piktogramme ein weiteres Mal zerschnitten und unkenntlich gemacht. Die

Lives of Travel XIIIV 2015 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 150 x 182cm / 59”x72” inches

übrig gebliebenen Schreibspuren dienen nur noch als immanente Farbkomponenten, die allein für die Gesamtkomposition des Objekts von Bedeutung sind. Denn die im Zerschnitt gefertigten Einzelelemente werden nun als zugerichtete Bausteine ihrem Farbgehalt nach verwendet und entweder in gleichgerichteter Schichtung oder in Kreuzlagen mit- und übereinander zu einer übergeordneten Struktur verleimt. Dadurch entsteht der strukturale und semi-skulpturale Charakter der Objekte. Jedes Einzelteil fügt sich dabei in das übergeordnete Modul, bleibt aber zugleich in seiner individuellen Einzigartigkeit sichtbar, da kein Element dem anderen gleicht. Die vektoral ausgerichtete Gleichförmigkeit der Teile innerhalb des Gesamten lässt den Betrachter an das Phänomen des Schwarmverhaltens denken, bei dem es eine ähnliche Wechselwirkung zwischen Individuen und Gesamtverband gibt. Mehr noch als die Anmutung eines Schwarms offenbaren Suh’s Arbeiten jedoch den in sich ruhenden Ausdruck für die permanente Bewegtheit des metaphysischen Malstroms, in die die Einzelwesen wie das Dasein überhaupt eingetaktet sind. Indem Suh Jeong Min das Basismaterial Papier und die Ausdrucksform der Kalligraphie als traditionelle Bestandteile fernöstlicher Kultur auf kunstfertige Weise in einen neuen, abstrakten Bedeutungszusammenhang bringt und den dabei entstandenen innovativen Sinngehalt zugleich mit der buddhistischen Vorstellungswelt verbindet, stellt er seine Kunst in den Kontext der globalen Begegnung der Kulturen und eröffnet einen Zugang zu andersartigen Vorstellungsweisen und den daraus hervorgehenden künstlerischen Ausdrucksformen. Sein Werk steht darum im Wesentlichen für die Grundhaltung der Toleranz, die eine solche Begegnung der Kulturen erst ermöglicht. Peter Hank, Jahrgang 1954, ist Leiter der Städtischen Galerie Fruchthalle Rastatt

The Mandala Series

he artwork of Suh Jeong-min employs the timeless structures of geometry while simultaneously pursuing an idiosyncratic aesthetic that combines cultural references with unusual formal techniques. These elegant and somewhat imposing works are neither painting nor sculpture, yet have properties of both. The paper Suh uses is made out of Buddhist prayer rolls from Korean hanji, produced from the inner bark of Mulberry trees. These quotes with words of wisdom - or prayers - are glued, rolled then cut, and are fixed on a wooden frame to create large relief, mandala-like works. Against the infinity of the universe, a circular mandala invites us to contemplate the concept of how belief is a circular rhythm that provides us with strength, stability and a sense of oneness. In his series The Absence of Wordly Desire Suh invites us to contemplate the meaning symbolised by the karmic wheel of life. In his signature work Spiritual Grains (opposite), Suh gives us a circular wheel; an almost hypnotic, central focal point. The circle calls us to “loose ourselves” in the endless karmic wheel of life; a wheel that teaches and helps

us to empty our minds of unwanted thoughts, desires and doubts. We are able to reach a clear state of mind, where we may rejuvenate ourselves. The wheel if never-ending, representing how our souls go through many lives of learning in order to achieve wisdom. The concept of mandalas is not always round however; the artist creates harmony using different shapes and yet is loyal to the idea of a balanced negative/positive. The yin ansering to the yang; one is the question, while the other is the response. In the work The absence of desire: Creation (pg. 21) Suh has his centre in gold leaf: it is the creation of the universe. He envisions the big bang as a magical start, where stars burst into the nothingness, to create the “some-thingness” of our world. Because we are like stars, and our prayers are in essence the search of our own beginnings of life itself. The artist says a prayer of thanks while creating these “prayer works”, believing that the borrowed hopes and dreams of others will bless the home or person once the work finds its final resting place.

Spiritual Grains 2010 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 150 x 182cm / 59”x72” inches

Absence of worldly desire: Infinity II 2015 Korean Paper rolled on wooden frame 140 x 140cm / 55” x 55”

Absence of worldly desire XVI 2014 Korean Paper rolled on wooden frame 130 x 130cm / 51.5” x 51.2”

Absence of worldly desire: Infinity III 2015 Korean Paper rolled on wooden frame 150 x 150cm / 59” x 59”

Spiritual Grains 2010 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 150 x 182cm / 59”x72” inches

The Sound of Faith: The flow Series.

rayer is how we celebrate faith, a dialogue between ourselves and the heavens.

Suh’s series of works Traces of Sound, Lines of Travel and The Imagination of Melody rests on the belief that faith is not only a sence of harmony but possosses a “holy tone”. A sound that is pure; a clear note that guides us through the fog of doubt.

flowing; a visualisation of the harmony that is our prayers heard the cosmos. Hence this dialogue; this questioning and answering is shown in the patterns of Suh’s large works, which resemble cornfields flowing in the wind. Simulataenously the burst of colour imitates fire works, bursting up into the heavens. Suh’s helps us to visualise how faith itself is a celebration; the joy to be at one with ourselves.

By placing the paper in a overlapping formation, the prayers resembling a rythmic

Lines of Travel XXII 2014 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 110 x 110cm / 44” x 44” inches

Festival VIII 2011 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 29” x 23-6” / 73 x 60 cm

Traces of Sound. Celebration 2014 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 150 X182cm / 59”x72” inches

Lines of Travel XXXXII 2015 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 100 x 100cm / 39.5” x39.5”

Lines of Travel XXXXI 2015 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 100 x 100cm / 39.5” x39.5”

Lines of Travel XXXX 2015 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 100 x 100cm / 39.5” x39.5”

Festival XIV 2014 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 110 x110cm / 44” x 44” inches

Lines of Travel XXI 2014 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 110 x110cm / 44” x 44” inches

Traces of Sound in Spiritual Grains 2013 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 150 X182cm / 59”x72” inches

Evidence of Sound V 2013 Hanji paper on wooden frame 290 x 218cm / 114” x 86”

Evidence of sound, IV 2013 Hanji paper on wooden frame 114” x 86”/290 x 218cm

The element series: Air, earth, fire and water.

n his Element Series, Suh creates four works representing elements found in Asian belief systems. Wind; representing Air; Fire; Earth and Water. Suh uses not only prayers found in temples, but discarded caligraphy by other Korean artists. Suh re-uses or recyles these discarded artworks with the message that all art has a value. The work Traces of Sound: Earth is an example how calrigraphy has been placed in a fashion to create a large, monumental work that resonates strength, stablity and longevity. “A mountain of faith” is how Suh regards this work, “that has a tone of its own”.

Suh’s Whispers from Above (page 32) represents the element air. In Korean, the element is understood as wind. The wing we see in the centre is a reference to the wings of hope. Many Buddhists believe that birds “hear the whispers from above. With the beat of their wings, we may hear Buddha’s words. But only for those who listen.” The same symbolism is found also in Hinduism, as well as in Christianity, with the white dove symbolising innocence, gentleness and peace.

Traces of Sound IV: Earth 2012 Korean Paper rolled on wooden frame 182 x 150 cm / 72.5” x 59”

Whispers from Above 2010 Korean Paper rolled on wooden frame 182 x 150 cm / 72.5” x 59”

Traces of Sound II: Water 2010 Korean Paper rolled on wooden frame 182 x 150 cm / 72.5” x 59”

Circularive Grains V: Fire 2011 Korean Paper rolled on wooden frame 182 x 150 cm / 72.5” x 59”

Finding the hidden Path. The Prayer Roll series.

n his series entitled A forsest writing, An Old Memory and Blessings from Above Suh used rolls that are complete and not sliced.

“When hopelessness and despair seem to surround us, we hope to find a clear path in life, to move forward”, says Suh. “We all pray to find our goals in life, and often we don’t see that amidst the chaos that surrounds us, a path is already laid out. But with faith – whether in a higher being or within ourselves – we hear our inner voice, as if an old memory emerges that ultimately guides us to find our own personal life’s path”. Suh gives us a visual image of how this diaglue with ourselves may look like; our journey of understanding a higher order through prayer. And if we listen, we are heard and are answered by the blessings from above. A Forest Writing III 2012 Korean Paper rolled on wooden frame 93 x 93 cm / 37” X 37”

The Old Memory II 2014 Korean Hanji paper rolled on wooden frame 130 x 80cm / 51.5” x 31.5”

Blessings from Above 2012 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 182 x 150cm / 62” x 59” inches

left Spiritual balance in his garden 2013 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 150 x150cm / 59” x 59” inches

The Korean Roof series.

ooking back on childhood memories, Suh uses in this series of works the symbol of the roof as a reminder and homage to the family.

“When we pray, we hope to be blessed. It is a natural need or wish to feel safe and protected,” says Suh. The roof represents the home ; hence a place where we feel safe and loved. Here the patterns of paper are like reeds of straw, or a thatched roof; a construct that is found in rural areas in Asia. In some works, Suh places the paper in two directions, such as the example Korean House Roof (oppostice). These represent our prayers and the blessings. When we pray we often look up towards the heavens - a subcounsion body position we use. The response we hope for is from the heavens: Suh shows us how blessings are like rain.

Korean House Roof 2013 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 140 x 140 cm / 55” x 55” inches

Korean House Roof: The melody of prayer 2012 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 190 x 90 cm / 75” x 35.3”

Right Korean House Roof X 2012 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 50 x 50 cm / 20” x 20”

The lines of whisper II 2012 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 120 x 73 cm / 42.5” x 29”

Korea House Roof IX 2012 Hanji Paper on Wooden 39.5 “ x 20 “/ 100 x 50 cm

Korean House Roof XIII 2015 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 100 x 150cm / 39.5 “ x 59”

Korean House Roof XI 2012 Hanji Paper on Wooden Frame 39.5 â&#x20AC;&#x153; x 20 / 100 x 50 cm

Biography Education BFA, Department of Painting, College of Fine Arts, Chosun University MFA, Graduate School of Arts, Kyonggi University

Solo Exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions

2016 JanKossen Contemporary NY New York, USA 2014 JanKossen Contemporary, Basel Switzerland 2013 Linarte Istanbul, Turkey 2012 JanKossen Contemporary, Basel Switzerland NAGOYA International Design Gallery, JAPAN 2011 The 10th Solo Exhibition, Seoul J Gallery, Korea The 9th Solo Exhibition, Paper museum, Korea O's Gallery Solo Exhibition, JeonJu O's Gallery, Korea 2010 The 9th Solo Exhibition InSa Art Center, Seoul 2009 The 7th Solo Exhibition, La Mer Gallery, Seoul The 8th Solo Exhibition, KEPCO Plaza Art Museum 2007 The 5th Solo Exhibition, Small-scale Works, Bokchon Gallery, Yeosu The 6th Drawing Solo Exhibition, Small-scale Works, Bokchon Gallery, Yeosu 2006 The 4th Solo Exhibition, Gallery Montmartre, Busan 2003 The 3rd Solo Exhibition, Jinnam Culture and Arts Center, Yeosu 2000 The 2nd Solo Exhibition, KEPCO Plaza Gallery, Seoul 1999 The 1st Solo Exhibition, Inje Art Museum, Gwangju

2014 International Contemporary Art Gwangju Biennale Korea 2013 Venice Biennale, Palazzo Bembo “Personal Structures” Italy 2011 La Mer Gallery, Seoul 2010 East meets west, USA 2010 Korea Modern Artist Exhibition/ Gallery Dimaca (Venezuela) 2009 Gyeonggi Folk Artist Invitation Exhibition Seong nam Arts Festival Seoul Art Gong pyeong Gallery Invitation Exhibition The Nature of Korea Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter Exhibition International Contemporary Art Gwangju Biennale 2008 Goyang Fine Arts Association Exhibition, Aramnuri, Art Museum, Korea 2007 Yeonhong Art Museum 1st Anniversary Exhibition, Korea 2006 Yeosu International Art Fair, Jinnam Culture and Arts Center, Yeosu Open Poems and Pictures, Sejong Center Art Museum, Seoul 2005 Invitational Exhibition in Pakistan 2004 Sanghyung Artist Group Exhibition, Sejong Center Art Museum, Seoul

Impressum Concept, Editing and realisation Jasmin Kossenjans DESIGN ContempoArtnews Ltd Photography Suh Jeong Min JanKossen Contemporary Ltd Text Michael Anderson, USA Peter Hank, Germany Jasmin Kossenjans, Switzerland SPONSORED BY JanKossen Contemporary Ltd PRINT RUN 1200 No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by no means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.