Candy-colored balloons, magically stacked one on top of another. You’d think they could just float away… until you find out that they’re bronze! These sculptures (stone, urethane paint on bronze) are the work of Korean artist Gimhongsok, from his series titled “Untitled (Short People)”. All of these images are from his show, “Dwarf, Dust, Doubt” that was shown at Tina Kim Gallery (New York) in the fall of 2018. Here are some words from the gallery’s site that explains these gorgeous pieces:

“[In] Dwarf, Dust, Doubt, Gimhongsok has highlighted how society casually assigns values to objects using terms to describe their size, weight and how we perceive them. In isolating these arbitrary values, he questions the political and social judgment implied by their use, rejecting the cavalier way people treat objects upon seeing them … each work from Untitled (Short People) is comprised of blown up balloons that are cast in bronze. Varying in size, the artist enlists friends and acquaintances to blow up the balloons finding poetic resonance in the capture of human breath. Divided into groups of four and six balloons, the entire series represents a combined effort of more than one hundred people.”

Sigh. Beautiful.