Yong Ho Ji is a Korean born sculptor and artist who builds mutant "monsters" out of rubber tires. He takes a modified natural material, rubber tires, and transforms familiar and somewhat threatening animals into beautiful yet unnatural creatures.
Tire waste is clearly a problem in car-centered societies such as ours (according to the Environmental Protection Agency, at least 290 million scrap tires are generated in the United States each year). Yong Ho Ji presents one of many reuses of this incredibly common waste material. Otherwise, whole tires have been reused as bumpers for boats, highway barriers and less commonly as a construction material for home building. It is not uncommon to now find recycled tire crumb in mats, stair treading and in athletic fields. It's amazing how a material so commonly used for a sole purpose can have such a variety of afterlives - probably not uncommon for most of our waste, when you think about it.
Clearly, one man's waste is another man's treasure. In 2008, one of Ji's sharks went for $145,000 USD at auction.
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