UARTSPACE opens a solo exhibition from June 26th to July 27th, 2019 by Yongho Ji widely known for ‘Mutant’ series. Through ‘Mutant’ series using a unique material of ‘tire’ in 2008, he received great attention from the art world in New York, making his name up internationally after his numerous solo and group exhibitions in Korea as well as active works abroad.
 
This exhibition is organized with a view to reflect on his ‘Mutant’ series for the last 10 years and to mark a milestone for a leap in the future, so it presents a valuable opportunity to see representative works of art that he has worked on so far at one place.
 
Mutant meaning ‘variant’ and ‘emergence’ provides the main subject of the artist’s works. According to Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, all living things have intense conflict and struggle for survival, and whether the occurrence of mutations that can adapt to it determines life and death of the organism.

In the 21th century, with the development of advanced scientific technology and genetic engineering, humans challenge not only the laws of nature but also Gods realm, the creation of god; however, genetic modifications or manipulations cause serious side-effects such as getting incurable diseases and having a deformed child with a body divided into two parts.
 
By his ‘Mutant’ series, the artist symbolically reveals the anxiety and existential aspects of modern people, threatened by elements including false desires of man and the unjust power to use them which result from misuse and abuse of the latest technology.
 
Jaguar 10 as the sequel of Jaguar 1, the first piece of ‘Mutant’ series, takes the posture of attacking at any moment, and shows to advantage the solid muscles and dynamics. It exposes sharp teeth in order to look stronger than it really is and assumes a lower attack pose in order to give the impression of a great menace to the opponents, which description approves a high quality in terms of a three-dimensional work.
 
Further, the museums and galleries at home and abroad have collected ‘Shark’ series which achieved much recognition in the international world of art while they gained huge popularity in the art community of Korea as well. The shark with a gigantic body and destructive teeth as the absolute ruler in the top layer of the marine life hierarchy indicates a crystal of power that survived from competition.
 
Impala head2 finds its expression with two long horns stretched out over the sky and hardy shapes of its eyes, and its coarsely connected hairs further accentuate the strength that the animal emits. In the West, stuffed deer heads called a ‘trophy’ are often used as a means to boast of their wealth and power, from which the artist drew inspiration to create the heads.
 
Deer Ram Head1 shows the result of the artist’s imagination when a deer and a ram is crossbred. The face of the ram with two horns extended long to the sides and the deer’s large eyes exudes the atmosphere that looks familiar but not easily accessible. The artwork above expressing a mutant animal with two heads on a neck features the added face of hybridization with a deer and a ram.

As a form that embodies small parts of countless life newly created by genetic manipulation, his works warn negative ripple effects on the ecosystem in the medium to longer term; in addition to this, it raises the ethical question of whether humans can manipulate genes with free will and points out the human nature of trying every possible means to accomplish their goals.
 
For the artist who developed dreams purely toward justice and goodness as a child, it felt like that reality was dominated by lies, immoralities, and absurdities, and also the world appeared the animal kingdom that trampled over the weak in order to climb to the top of a mountain. Penetrating the desire and selfish nature of man that stems from excessive belief in the ability of human, the author clearly delivers with his Mutant series that precious values we have forgotten up to the present perform as a significant driving force that leads our life.

References

• 《The Origin of Mutant》