For the first time in the world, a life-size statue of Michael Jackson will be made entirely of Murano Glass.
On June 3, the masterpiece will fly to Los Angeles from Venice, Italy, to be displayed in a private collection.
The piece was commissioned by one of Michael Jackson’s lawyers to Italian Glass master Giancarlo Signaretto.
Giancarlo, born in 1962, is the son of a painter and one of eight children; he lost his parents at a young age and he started working as a young boy, only 14, as an apprentice in the famous Murano Glass Factory Seguso Albarelli, where many of his brothers worked too.
By the age of 27 he opened his own furnace in Murano because he wanted to be able to express his own artistic ideas. He then spent some time in France where he got to collaborate with some of the most famous artists of the 90s. In 2002 he came back to Murano where he got to work also with his brother Pino.
“It was not at all easy to make the statue: it is made entirely by hand, in blown glass, and we had to follow with extreme precision the instructions of the client who asked us that he had his hands crossed and that he wear certain coloured clothes”, explains Giancarlo Signoretto. Even for the hairstyle the furnace had to follow precisely the instructions of the client, who repeatedly reiterated that the hair had to be collected backwards. It took about three months to make the work that is one meter and seventy-five meters high – the height of the singer – and weighs about 100 kilos. The black pants and the red jacket are the ones that Michael Jackson wore in the video of Thriller.
Signoretto, in recent months, was contacted by a specific mediation agency which, in turn, had been called by the entourage of Michael Jackson’s lawyer. For some time the lawyer was looking for someone who was able to make a life-size statue that had the exact features of his most famous client. After touring half of Europe, the entourage found satisfaction in Murano. The companies contacted previously, in fact, had proposed to realize the work through a mould but the requests of the lawyer were inflexible: the statue had to be entirely handmade.
“It was a great challenge because we had never had such a request but we managed to fulfil it: with difficulty but great satisfaction”, concludes Signoretto specifying that the statue involved a master and three assistants. The work, consisting of three detachable blocks for air transport, will take flight on Friday. It will end up in the private collection of the lawyer who in his house preserves countless memorabilia related to the famous singer. But it will not remain closed forever in a private dwelling. According to some rumours it will in fact be exhibited in a public event to be held shortly in Los Angeles. Signoretto does not reveal the cost of the work which, however, given the weight, labour and hours of work it required, is certainly not one of the cheapest made by the furnace. There is talk of a few tens of thousands of euros.
Would that be John Branca who commissioned the art and who is gearing up to celebrate Thriller40 with a masterpiece? Time will tell!
SOURCE: Giancarlo Signaretto / Instagram
