Some/One
Date2001
Maker
Do Ho Suh
Korean, born 1962
Label TextAn assignment at the Rhode Island School of Design—to express identity through clothing—made the artist think about “my identity as a Korean in the United States.” Recalling his two-year mandatory service in the Korean military, Suh built a garment out of thousands of dog tags, soldiers’ IDs that reduce individual lives to a handful of letters and numbers. The sculpture, taking the shape of an Asian armor, embodies a recurring theme for Suh: the relationship of the individual to the larger society.
The assignment [at the Rhode Island School of Design] was using the form of clothing to address this issue of identity…[it] allowed me to think about my identity as a Korean in the United States, through that project.
– Do Ho Suh, in an interview with Art21
Some/One, 2001, represents artist Do Ho Suh's interest in individual and collective identity. In the tradition of minimalist sculpture (works by artists such as Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Carl André) Do Ho Suh's work explores how installation and sculpture pieces transform public and private spaces. His works are rich in content and aesthetics. Unlike some minimalist sculptures, they contain a painstaking amount of intricate detail that is not always apparent at first sight but is an integral part of the artwork. Some/One, as the title of the work indicates, juxtaposes the collective—represented by a larger-than-life armor sculpture—and the individual, consisting of life-size shiny-metal dog tags, each unique and representing a single soldier. This allegory is carried forward by contrasting the hard, insensitive character of armor with the delicate aspect of the dog tags, which are made up of thin sheets of metal and embody the poetic symbolism of fallen warriors.
– Do Ho Suh, in an interview with Art21
Some/One, 2001, represents artist Do Ho Suh's interest in individual and collective identity. In the tradition of minimalist sculpture (works by artists such as Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Carl André) Do Ho Suh's work explores how installation and sculpture pieces transform public and private spaces. His works are rich in content and aesthetics. Unlike some minimalist sculptures, they contain a painstaking amount of intricate detail that is not always apparent at first sight but is an integral part of the artwork. Some/One, as the title of the work indicates, juxtaposes the collective—represented by a larger-than-life armor sculpture—and the individual, consisting of life-size shiny-metal dog tags, each unique and representing a single soldier. This allegory is carried forward by contrasting the hard, insensitive character of armor with the delicate aspect of the dog tags, which are made up of thin sheets of metal and embody the poetic symbolism of fallen warriors.
Object number2002.43
ProvenanceThe artist; [Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, New York]
Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Anne Gerber Biennial: Do-Ho Suh, Aug. 10, 2002 - Dec. 1, 2002.
London, England, Serpentine Gallery, Do-Ho Suh, Apr. 23 - May 26, 2002 (Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum and Seattle Asian Art Museum, Aug. 10 - Dec. 1, 2002). Text by Lisa G. Corrin and Miwon Kwon. No cat. no., pp. 5, 9, 11-13, 16-17, 41, end pages, reproduced [no object number at time of publication].
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Be/longing: Contemporary Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.Published ReferencesFitzgerald, Michael. "Opening a Do-Ho to His Art", Time Magazine. June 3, 2002, pp. 52-53.
Farr, Sheila. "SAM Trustees buy Do-Ho Suh's 'Some/One'" The Seattle Times Sept. 6, 2002: Arts and Entertainment
"SAM Acquires Major Piece from Do-Ho Suh's Exhibit" Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
Sept. 6, 2002, Visual Art
"Stories: Do-Ho Suh: Some/One & the Korean Military", Art 21, PBS, 2003,
<http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/suh/clip2.html>
Hackett, Regina. "SAM's Modern Art Curator has High Hopes for his Expanded Collection", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 14, 2007, A&E
Ishikawa, Chiyo et al. "Seattle Art Museum Downtown." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 2007, illus. pp. 58-59, 69
"Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures." London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, p. 46
Sullivan, Jennifer, "Thousands Join SAM's 35-Hour-Long Party to Celebrate SAM's Makeover", The Seattle Times May 6, 2007, Local news
Tanumihardja, Pat, "SAM's Asian Art Growns in Number, Strength", Northwest Asian Weekly, June 7, 2007.
Berner, Alan. "Seattle Asian Art Museum suits up for its reopening," Seattle Times, December 21, 2019: p. A7, reproduced. [A version of the coverage appears online on December 20, 2019 with the headline: "Seattle Asian Art Museum suits up for its re-opening," https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-asian-art-museum-suits-up-for-its-re-opening.]
Messman, Lauren. "Seattle Asian Art Museum to Repoen After $56 Million Renovation." The New York Times, Feb. 3, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/arts/design/seattle-asian-art-museum.html. Reproduced.
Foong, Ping, Xiaojin Wu, and Darielle Mason. "An Asian Art Museum Transformed." Orientations vol. 51, no. 3 (May/June 2020): p. 68, reproduced fig. 28.
Kiley, Brendan. "Seattle Asian Art Museum is set to reopen – 3 years and $56 million later." Seattle Times, February 2, 2020: p. E1. [A version of this article appears online on January 30, 2020 with the headline: "Step inside the reinvented Seattle Asian Art Museum, set to reopen after 3 years," https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/three-years-and-56-million-later-seattle-asian-art-museum-is-reinvented-and-set-to-reopen. Reproduced.]Credit LineGift of Barney A. Ebsworth
DimensionsDiameter at base: 24 ft. 4 in.; Height: 81 in.
MediumStainless steel military dog-tags, nickel-plated copper sheets, steel structure, glass fiber reinforced resin, rubber sheets
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