BE THERE
Yong Ho Ji 2008Presented by Gana Art April 17, 2008- May 24, 2008Reception: April 17, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pmYong Ho Ji
Classified by the artist into carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous animals, as well as arthropods, fish and hybrids, the animal sculptures take the forms of sharks and spiders, boars, wildebeests and wolves, as well as crossbred combinations of species. By pasting strips of used tires onto molds and frames he makes himself, Ji mimics the way real muscles hang on animal skeletons. The realistic effect of this process points to the influence of 19th century French sculptor Auguste Rodin on Ji’s practice, especially with respect to articulation of powerful, exaggerated postures. Another seminal influence on Ji’s mutant series is Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species, which emphasizes the need for living things to adapt in order to survive. Ji’s belief in continuous transformation can be witnessed in the evolution of his chosen material, from natural rubber to industrial product to discarded by-product to re-imagined artwork. The medium itself poses questions about the values of modern society, whose constant production of new tires can be seen as a symbol of consumerism. At the same time, Ji’s altered animals raise issues about the human desire to challenge nature through technologies such as genetic engineering. The sculptures’ precarious identities evoke both the natural process of transformation and the mythical status of hybrid creatures like the Centaur or the Sphinx. Yong Ho Ji was born in 1978 and is based in Seoul. He received his B.F.A. in Sculpture from Hong-ik University, Seoul in 2005. His work has been exhibited at Gana Art Center, Seoul (2006) and HANGARAM Design Museum, Seoul (2004), among other venues. In 2004, Ji received special recognition in the HANKOOK Tire Design Competition.
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