Lehmann Maupin would like to announce an exhibition of Paratrooper-I, a new sculptural installation by Do-Ho Suh. This will mark the artist's third solo exhibition at Lehmann Maupin.
More than 3,000 different signatures-– names of family, friends and acquaintances collected from personal journals and exhibition guest books– have been hand-stitched onto a thin, suspended layer of linen for Paratrooper-I. The long, pink, loose threads extending from each name are bound together and held by a small, polished stainless steel paratrooper standing atop a concrete base. The figure tugs at the threads as if collecting a deflated or caught parachute.
Paratrooper-I explores notions of human relationships, displacement, personal history and personal space. The paratrooper acts as a metaphor for being dropped into and surviving amidst a new environment, and thus, his reliance on his parachute for a safe landing is key. The singular threads in the work, none of which touch another, bind and relate the isolated figure to the individuals represented by the signatures. These strands become deliberate lifelines equally responsible for the fate and existence of the individual.
Do-Ho Suh was born in 1962 in Seoul, Korea. He received his MFA in sculpture from Yale University and BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has had solo exhibitions at Whitney Museum of America Art at Phillip Morris, the Serpentine Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, among other venues, and most recently at the ArtSonje Center in Seoul Korea. Suh was also invited to participate in the 49th Venice Biennale. Suh\'s work is included in numerous museum collections including the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.