Unknown Creatures, Hur Unkyung

From H. G. Wells’s classic novel of alien conquest The War of the Worlds (1898) to Ridley Scott’s terrifying deep-space thriller Alien (1979), human encounters with off-world entities have typically been characterized as horrific. However, some movies and literature feature positive interactions with alien lifeforms, such as Steven Spielberg’s heartwarming classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Similarly, an encounter with Hur Unkyung’s Unknown Creatures would probably be a benign, if not pleasant experience.
Hur’s sculptural installation includes a large mother creature and two offspring. The Creatures are made of gold leaf coated in natural lacquer, which is the treated resin of the lacquer tree, a highly toxic relative of poison oak. Working with lacquer is an ancient technique that requires great expertise. For this triad of sculptures, Hur applied clear lacquer resin to a core material of wire and clay, thus infusing traditional craft with futuristic implications.