An oneiric fascination with the terror and awe implicit to scientific discovery informs Yong Ho Ji's sculptural practice, for which the artist plays dual roles of skilled artisan and mad doctor. Meticulously layering cut strips of tire as the flesh for his "mutants," Yong Ho Ji models his creatures after endangered animals, mythological beings, and humanoids akin to his favorite superheroes. Underlying his unique brand of science fiction monster making is a startlingly specific, poetically lucid, ethical critique of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), based on his skepticism towards those "who seek to challenge nature by creating an entirely new form of life through modifying genes of animals, plants, and human beings." Scientifically speaking, Ji's mutants are emblematic of Darwin's evolutionary theory, which states that mutations may evolve species better adapted to their environments.

Ever since the success of Murakami Takashi, the main contribution made by Japanese contemporary art on the global stage has come from such sub cultural forms as Anime, computer games, Otaku and Kawaii. Moreover, a review of work by a new generation of contemporary artists reveals an attempt to combine traditional Japanese aesthetics and the innovative artistic expressive forms inherent in the language of western aesthetics. For the purposes of this exhibition, Soka Art Center invited 17 Japanese contemporary Japanese artists to work with 7 stylistically distinctive Japanese art galleries.