Shen Shaomin is a Chinese artist who creates sculptures out of animal bones. He becomes an anthropologist, a scientist and an author of his very own creations. The sculptures embody his concern of transhumanism and the directions science and technology are leading our world. He often presents his work as if it were a valid museum displays playing off its colossal scale to emphasize the prehistoric origin and the curiosities of our imagination. Carving into the bone, he covers his creatures with 'scrimshaw' to further reference human interference with this disturbing 'historic' or 'future' evidence. His work is currently being displayed at the Saatchi Gallery in London.
"... his sculptures collectively create a bestiary of fictional creatures that are wondrous, frightening, and strange. Reminiscent of Borge's Book of Imaginary Beings, Shen's absurd assemblages exude an ancient wisdom, authenticating the magic of fable and folklore, while alluding to contemporary issues of genetic modification, consequence of environmental threat, and concepts of the alien and exotic."
-Saatchi Gallery
"Shen Shaomin's creatures are totally unexpected but are not themselves horrible or loathsome. As relics of some future or past [they are] disquieting. It is not them but the intelligence that has the potential to produce them and the greed of fundamentalist belief that drives it. That is the real scary monster."
-Jonathan Thomson
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