Korean sculptor Xooang Choi‘s sculptures of bodies and imaginary creatures are often described as hyper-realistic, but they are also surreal in their elements of fantasy and nightmarish distortion. We’ve featured both his most imaginative and more graphic visions on our blog, sculptures that explore themes of destruction, transformation and re-assemblage. To Choi, the body is a vessel through which we perceive and express ourselves, and one that provides him with an ideal medium to explore the possibilities of the human condition. What might seem brutal at first glance is actually Choi’s method of dealing with life’s wounds and scars, and even in his most grotesque work, his figures seem to evoke our awe and sympathy. Working out of his studio in Seoul, Choi creates his work with a critical eye on modern society and the burden of our existence, including the experiences of himself and his own family members growing up in Korea. At his instagram, Choi offers glimpses into his process and new work, hand-painted oil on resin, wood and polymer clay sculptures built from molds of body parts. These include the blurred figures of salary men, lonely pedestrians that appear frozen in time, and his “dreamers”, an ongoing series of nudes embracing as brightly colored “forests” erupt from their heads. Choi says, “In the void or space that is revealed from this process, I want to delve into more fundamental questions about the elements that comprise each of us as well as our society – mind, consciousness, emotion and material.”
