The art you're about to see is made with very unexpected materials, and requires extreme determination, commitment and preciseness. Using 64,000 chopsticks, an artist was able to create a lifelike portrait of acrobatic actor Jackie Chan. When I saw her finished product, I was so amazed by her feat that it gave me goosebumps.
The artist's name is Red Hongyi, and I'll let her describe this unbelievable project for you:
"It wasn't easy to choose the material for Jackie's piece. He is a world famous actor, an exceptional martial arts fighter, an environmentalist, and one of the most well-known faces internationally! I finally decided on chopsticks because Jackie had used them in some of the fighting scenes in his movies the Fearless Hyena and Karate Kid, and because chopsticks are Chinese. As he is also an environmentalist, I used disposable bamboo chopsticks to show that discarded materials can be reused and made into something meaningful and beautiful. This art installation is a tribute to the life, art and cultural significance of Jackie Chan.
I spent a month collecting 64,000 chopsticks, in Zhejiang and in Beijing. I tied them into different bundle sizes with strings, and then hung them on a steel frame. This was a hanging piece that had to be suspended with steel cables, so I had to make sure that it was structurally stable enough to carry that many chopsticks. I also hung 60–for Jackie's 60th birthday–bamboo chopstick holders filled with skewers that formed the word 'long' (dragon) because Jackie's name in chinese means "Dragon". The installation is best viewed from the front, where the portrait is most visible. From its side, waves of chopsticks tied in bundles is seen."
What's the most incredible piece of art you've ever seen? Let us know, and please SHARE this video — because it's artists like Red who deserve all the recognition possible.
