Ai Wei Wei in San Giorgio Maggiore

 Another brutal and beautiful installation, La Commedia Umana, by Ai Wei Wei. It's astonishing, ornate, somber and completely gorgeous in a macabre way. It's perfectly sited in this large cathedral and looks to both the local glass industry and to the black devotional objects that are in the presbytery. Crafted in black Murano glass over the past three years, it's a major work art.











Ai Wei Wei also worked on other pieces of glass while in Murano, including a very clever self portrait that shows him a combination Buddha/Mao.




Here are some other works from his Venetian series in glass. I particularly liked the black fish, which I believe has his features, but not distinct enough to take away from the fish.






And finally, the lego works, which he has been working on for years, part painting pastiche, part sculpture, part mechanical art, they are completely delightful.








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