Lot 905: CHOI U-RAM

CHOI U-RAM
(Born in 1970)
Nox Pennatus 3/5
metallic material, machinery, metal halide lamp and electronic device (cpu board, motor)
84 x 107 x 86 cm. (33 x 43 x 34 in.)
Executed in 2006

At the beginning of the 20th century a new aesthetic ideal which held that beauty no longer belonged to the realm of pure art alone took shape, but should be expressed through science and industry as well; advances in technical knowledge and mechanical know-how could also serve to produce new forms of beauty. These marvelously intricate and lifelike mechanical structures contain a further level of artistic and aesthetic refinement revealed in their finely tooled component parts, as chromosomal shapes etched on to these alien mechanical forms add to viewer's surprise at the actual existence of these rare creatures. Their evolved forms appear fundamentally rooted in nature, yet upon their finding may appear quite strange and foreign.

Choi U-Ram's incisive decision in formulating names for his creatures occupies a paradoxical position in anthropological examination of his imagined evolution. Nox Pennatus (Lot 905), a scientific nomenclature bred from Anmorosta Balena Pennatus Uram. This fictional taxonomy by the artist is not merely to suit the mechanical physicality of his sculpture but moreover is a premeditated system to generate living characteristics to his microorganism. Here, the name given performs as the crucial key in decoding his sculpture. By compartmentalizing its title, the spectator is able to unravel the mystery of these organic beings. Anmoraosta Balena Pennatus Uram: Anmoraosta describes the material components of the sculpture-An-animal, Mo-motor, Ro-rotation, Sta-stainless steel; Balena in Latin define whale; Nox implies Goddess of Night; Pennatus in Latin define winged with feathers, which together completes the mathematics of the originality and persona of this microorganism.

Nox, also implicative of NOx, nitrogen oxide is what this creature relies to breathe; inhaling this fictional air through the 12 fin-like inhalers on the side its body and in return, exhaling oxygen back to the air. This technical animal is most active under the night sky, which in Choi's ecological realm, is the period of time when the pollution descend onto the surface of the earth. This ambitious invention of Nox Pennatus resonates tranquil mechanical sounds with its sinuous flying motion that soothes the viewers with their visual grace and purpose from their fear of environmental apocalypse.

At the present pinnacle of Korea's technological advancements, Choi's works reflect on our shifting relations with just such products of modernization. Human intelligence has developed to such a level of sophistication that our machine creations are capable of nearly human thought and judgment and possess complex lives of their won. If humans are given such godlike power to create, the adverse consequences of human activity upon nature will inevitably lead to the breeding of similar alien forms. Should we try to escape from natural law, we will ultimately find ourselves at once in awe and yet fearful of what we may end up creating.