So, we were furniture shopping on La Brea the other day with my fabulous friend Jim when we ran across this bad boy right out there on the street corner.  My husband’s first comment was, “How odd!”  Jim’s first comment was, “Well, that’s interesting!”  My first reaction was to squeal and demand, “Take a picture, because I just KNOW that thing weighs more than me!”**

The statue, called “Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head” is a work by the Gao Brothers, Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang, of China.

Fairfax By Night gives us more details about the piece:

As such a well known person, the artists’ decision to give his face a chrome finish takes the focus away from Lenin, and to the sculpture’s context by allowing the reflections to highlight the immediate surroundings instead of Lenin in an appropriately demeaning fashion. The staggered sections represent his broken and destructive legacy that brought so much turmoil to Russia. Atop is a very playful inclusion of baby holding a balance stick on top of Lenin’s protruding head, as if walking a tight rope of his disastrous and risky Marxist ideals.

So why, one might wonder, is there a giant bust of Lenin in Stainless Steel on the corner of 4th and La Brea in Los Angeles?  Apparently, it’s been installed in front of the ACE Gallery LA as part of The [Secret] Return of Noever show.  And now for what you really wanted to know…

Here’s the stats:

Materials: Stainless Steel constructed in horizontal sections

Depth: 13.79 ft.

Width: 19.67 ft.

Weight: 3306.93 lbs.

Conclusion: Lenin’s head weighs more than me!

**Please note.  Ginormous bust of Lenin on La Brea is considered an ironic look at a controversial dictator.  The Fat Chick bussing giant bust of said dictator should also be construed as ironic and not be taken as support for dictators, stainless steel or giant heads.  That is all.