Xu Bing's "Phoenix"

Imagine a construction sites in Beijing, you have steel, lumber, nails, sheet rock and tons of other material. You also have tons of waste, remnants, pieces of these material. Now, imagine an artist with an incredible vision, Xu Bing, who sees beauty and not garbage. He decides to collect these detritus from hundreds of construction sites to create two very large sculptures. He creates Phoenix. Mythology tells us that the Phoenix rises from the ashes of its predecessors. These are two 12 ton sculptures risen from Beijing's changing face.

They are suspended from the ceilings of one of the most beautiful churches in the United States, St. John the Divine. One is a male named Feng and the other is the female called Huang. Feng is large and flying towards the front of the church towards the stained glass windows. Huang follows Feng and both seem to be searching to escape through gorgeous stained glass windows. As you walk around it, under it you see the beauty, the sparkle and one can only imagine the amount of work that went into this. When interviewed, Xu Bing said, "The method is unsophisticated, like Chinese lanterns. At the same time it is also in keeping with the Western concept of ready-made assemblage. The entire process of creation forms an interactive relationship with the environment and Chinese society." (from:http://www.stjohndivine.org/programs/art/current-exhibitions)

The Phoenix is here until February. So while it is at St. John the Divine, do stop by and walk under it, around it and view the video on how this was created. Xu Bing, a man with a vision of turning garbage into beauty.