Trillium Point 22 - Lenin's Head
Episode description
"Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenins Head" art installation in the City of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada by the Gao Brothers of China.
This large scale sculpture features two iconic figures in shiny polished stainless steel, a diminutive Miss Mao delicately balancing on the head Vladimir Lenin, the Russian revolutionary whose monumental ideas profoundly influenced Chinese political history. This potentially controversial sculpture is part of the Gao Brothers Miss Mao series, often described as cynical realism.
This sculpture can be read as a political narrative, as well as a reflection on the current nostalgic attitude toward Mao. The position and scale of the two figures simultaneously questions and ridicules their relative positions in an undeniable commentary. The Gao Brothers have consciously chosen to play the role of social critic and therefore walk a careful line in terms of politics.