“These two phoenixes were given their souls by the hands of a million construction workers,” said Xu Bing. The picture is a close up image of the head.© Xu Bing
Drawing inspiration from the contemporary realities of his fast-changing country, Chinese artist Xu Bing spent two years creating his newest work, Phoenix. The installation features two monumental birds fabricated entirely from materials harvested from construction sites in urban China, including demolition debris, steel beams, tools, and remnants of the daily lives of migrant laborers. At once fierce and strangely beautiful, the mythic Phoenixes bear witness to the complex interconnection between labor, history, commercial development, and the rapid accumulation of wealth in today's China.
The internally illuminated 12-ton birds are suspended mid-air inside the museum’s football field-sized Building 5. Courtesy artdaily.com ©Xu Bing 2012
This is the premier appearance of the sculpture outside China (the works were exhibited briefly outdoors at the Today Art Museum in Beijing, and then at Expo10 in Shanghai). At MASS MoCA, the internally illuminated 12-ton birds are suspended mid-air inside the museum’s football field-sized Building 5; dwarfing visitors, the male Phoenix Feng measures 90 feet long, while the female Huang reaches 100 feet in length, beak to (steel) tail feathers.
Phoenix as briefly displayed outdoors in China © Xu Bing
Other elements of the exhibition include 1st Class, a faux tiger skin made of 500,000 cigarettes, and Background Story, a lightbox designed to look like a traditional scroll painting, but created from shadows cast by debris.
"1st Class", Some 500,000 cigarettes forming an ersatz tiger skin rug Courtesy MASS MoCA ©Xu Bing
"1st Class", Some 500,000 cigarettes forming an ersatz tiger skin rug Courtesy MASS MoCA ©Xu Bing
An opening reception will take place on April 27, in conjunction with the installation of a “second chapter” of the exhibition.
Phoenix Project was commissioned by Ravenel Art Group and is on loan courtesy of the collection of Mr. Barry Lam. MASS MoCA is grateful for exhibition support provided by the artist’s studio; JUT GROUP, Eslite Gallery; Beautiful Asset (Beijing) Industry Co., Ltd.; E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Massachusetts Cultural Council; Robert Lehman Foundation; Helen & Will Little; Rene Balcer & Carolyn Hsu-Balcer; Hugh Freund; Cynthia Hazen Polsky & Leon Polsky; Alex G. Cao & Tina Wong; and an anonymous donor.
Courtesy Xu Bing and MASS MoCA, for further information please visit www.massmoca.org.
