Stroy

Ouroboros

The myth of the Ouroboros exists in both Eastern and Western cultures. It is a dragon or snake which swallows its own tail in an infinite loop. Choe’s work in cloaked with hardened leaf-like scales and moves in a continuous rhythmic wave, creating the impression of a soft flesh-like body, a contrast that is both mysterious and uncanny. The mouth of the dragon represents birth while the tail represents death, signifying creation and destruction, both the positive and the negative existing in one body, portraying an eternal cycle. Egyption alchemists viewed the Ouroboros as ‘infinite’ and a symbol for the rotation of the universe. Choe shows the Ouroboros that ceaselessly eats itself, expressing both his vision of the passing of time and the celestial movement, as well as humankind’s endless rapacious greed and insatiable desire, as we devour ourselves in our own destruction.