Thursday, October 14, 2004

I ran across an article about an “anti-monument” in Brooklyn and of course was instantly intrigued. And in the time it took me to do some research, I’d fallen in love with another sculptor.  His name is Do-Ho Suh, a 40-ish Korean transplant to the US. His work is brilliant and may bring back the luster to the words “conceptual artist”.  The work is called “Public Figures”. It’s a pedestal in City hall park in Brooklyn. There’s nothing on the pedestal- no equestrian hero, no abstract form, no politically correct human figure. It’s empty. But look down. The piece is being held up by hundreds of tiny figures, 1 ft high people of all sorts with their hands held up to carry the plinth above them. They’re all green, but those who can look closer (the pictures obviously don’t do it justice) say they represent all races. Suh says that the piece (his only public art piece to date) moves the focus from grand individuals to the heroism of the masses. According to him, they both support and resist the stone.  He does a lot of scale bending work. In the Venice Biennial, he created a floor for the Italian Pavilion that had thousands of tiny forms holding the thick plastic sheet up. People walked on them without noticing them- much like every day life… and in the same show, he had a suit of armor made out of dogtags.  I’ll say it again- this guy is brilliant! 10:37:38 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Patti Cassidy. Last update: 11/5/04; 8:52:04 AM.