Year: 2023
Medium: mounted LEGO bricks, accompanied by the artist's wooden presentation case
Dimensions: 153 x 153 cm (60 1/4 x 60 1/4 in.)
Edition: No. 9 of 12 + 1 A.P
Acquired from Phillips, 2026
Using LEGO bricks, Ai recreates Marc Chagall’s masterpiece "I and the Village" (1911, in the collection of MoMA). While the work is impressive for achieving a high degree of fidelity despite LEGO’s coarse resolution, what deserves particular attention here is the difference from the original. First, a nude self-portrait of Ai himself has been added to the lower left of the composition. In Chagall's painting, the gazes of the man and the cow are connected by a thin line, but here, the line is replaced by the blue bird associated with a social media platform. These differences can be read as a resolute statement by an artist who has consistently raised the alarm over distorted society and censorship.
