Wk 2 - Artist Essay - Ai Weiwei

About the Artist

Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in beijing china. his father was a nationally renowned poet who was endorsed by the leader the people of the Chinese Communist Revolution, Mao Zedong. Soon after Weiwei's birth his father was labeled an enemy of the revolution as a result of a poem he wrote. Mao eventually banished the family to a work camp in rural china. the family was allowed to return at Mao's death in 1976. in 1978 he enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy. He also helped found the Avant Garde art group the "Stars." in 1981, fed up with the Chinese government Weiwei decided to move to america. while living in New York he started making art influenced by Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp. He also started carrying around a camera with him and documenting his life. In 1993 he returned to china for his ill father. Upon his return he created a series of three underground books about the new Chinese art scene. He continues to make anti chinese goverment artwork and has attracted the attention of the police who constantly spy on him. He was also an early adopter of social media and shared his life with his followers, before the government shut it down.

Formal Analysis

The art that Weiwei produces is not limited to one genre. He has done everything from architecture to music. He also has done a lot of readymade art. This is art that is made out of art that already exists, but the artist has the power to alter it or declare it as art. He is known for taking antiques and altering them making to make his art. He has cut a Ming dynasty table and put two legs resting on a wall and had it put back together in the way that the Ming’s would have. He has also made many documentary films and sculptures. Perhaps the most astonishing of his work is his architecture. He designed the “Bird's Nest” stadium for the 2008 summer olympics in Beijing and did not attend the opening ceremonies.

Content Analysis

Many of Weiwei’s works have to do with freedom and the operation of government. In 1995 he took a sequence of pictures of him dropping a Han Dynasty vase on the ground, shattering it.

This is to bring attention to the communist government destroying historic art. Also his painting of the coca cola logo on an ancient vase also signifies Modern capitalism destroying history. His exhibit, Seeds, from 2010, which is made up of 100,000,000 hand painted ceramic sunflower seeds that are reminiscent of the seeds that the poor people of china had to eat to survive under Mao.

Synthesis

I enjoy a lot of Weiwei’s art. The ready made art is very visually appealing. I cannot identify with the politics of a lot of the art, because i am not from china, but i can identify with the themes of freedom of speech. I agree with his overall beliefs and i like his art. His designing of the chinese national stadium was ironic. He thought that the olympics were going to be a symbol of nationalism, but they ended up being about the how good the leadership was. I respect how he didn't show up the the opening ceremony.