Mutation Of Contemporary Sculptures By Yong Ho Ji

Standing next to a ram’s head ten times the size of his own, with a two-headed horse gazing his way, Yong Ho Ji (born 1978) flashes a friendly grin. Korean artist has made a career out of sculpting larger-than-life animals. His Chelsea studio is filled with hyenas, horses, felines, and the menacing ram’s head. They’re all built from black tires.
“My concept is mutation—mutants,” he explains. The futuristic beasts have earned him a prestigious artist residency.
To Ji, rubber symbolizes mutation. “The product is from nature,” from the white sap of latex trees. “But here it’s changed. The color is black. The look is scary.” He tried experimenting with clay and bronze, but the sculptures looked too much like robots. “Rubber is very flexible, like skin, like muscles,” he explains. It gives him more freedom in capturing the animals’ expressivity—the horse’s wistful glance or the way the hyena cocks its hind leg, ready to spring into an attack.