People 1995

Se-Ok Suh made this artwork, called ‘People,’ using ink. Look at these figures emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I imagine the artist leaning over the paper on the floor, thinking about touch, and line, and weight, and rubbing, maybe even the odd tear drop falling into the mix. It’s all there in the black ink, pooling into rough, textured marks. I can almost feel what it’s like to be in their body making the painting. Maybe this kind of mark-making felt so natural to Suh, like breathing? There's a sense of a repeated figure, each one different, each one made of layers, and each one like the other. I see these marks as like one long conversation, an exchange of ideas happening between artists across time. And for me, painting can be a form of expression which embraces doubt, allowing for multiple readings of its meaning.