A word ‘mutant’ refers to a form of animal or plant resulting from a process of mutation in which a living organism changes its ordinary form to be adapted to a new environment. Ji Yong-ho’s mutants, featuring a dragon head, piggy nose, wolf’s neck and lion’s body, all exhibit fantastic forms, drastically distorted appearances of a new living organism.
In the mutant series, Ji tries to make a symbolic statement about the fast changing modern society, anxiety of human beings trapped in it, and life in nature fast losing its vital force due to the destructive actions of human beings.
The mutant series are made of wasted tyres, a symbol of the industrialized modern society, rather than clay, marble or other traditional sculptural materials, but are in the vein of the traditional sculpture in terms of the techniques and forms.
The mutant series marked by elaborate representation based on power and technique and the use of a new medium, wasted tyre, are generally regarded as the “modern representation of traditional sculpture”.
