Gimhongsok’s Short People sculptures are abstractions of figures who have entered, impacted, and perhaps exited the artist’s life. To create this series of work, the artist approaches family members, friends, and other community members and asks them to blow up balloons with their own breath. Gimhongsok then casts these light and ephemeral objects in bronze, rendering permanent the transient qualities of breath and life. The sculptures also incorporate a textural contrast between smooth balloon and rough stone base, and always project an effusive vibrancy and buoyancy. Filled with whimsy, candor, and uncorrupted joy, Gimhongsok’s balloons represent all of the relationships, both heavy and light, that comprise an individual life.