Paperback, colour and black and white illustrations, 160 pages, 250mm x H290mm
Ai Weiwei (b. 1957) is truly an artist for the twenty-first century. In
his sculptures, he refashions artefacts and antiques into surprising,
sometimes monumental constructions such as "Template" (2007): hundreds
of wooden doors and windows taken from demolished Ming and Qing dynasty
temples and arranged into a massive outdoor sculpture.
As much as these
materials look to the past, they also speak of the present, because
never before (and probably never again) have they been available in
such abundance. Like his benches carved from centuries-old temple
beams, "Template" is a sly commentary on the speed with which China's
building boom is obliterating its past. (When Template collapsed in a
rainstorm two weeks after its unveiling at Documenta 12, the artist
embraced its demise as a clever artistic twist).In China today, making
art that's critical of current cultural and economic policies is not a
particularly safe career move. But Ai's father, the poet Ai Qing,
walked a similar path, absorbing European avant-garde styles while
studying in 1930s Paris and later standing by them in the face of
Communist opposition, a move that eventually led to his exile to the
distant provincial town where his son Weiwei came to be born and
raised.
Ai has
equally and increasingly been influenced by modernist architecture and
contemporary urban planning, citing the need for an ideal for living in
a country where runaway economic development has shown little regard
for the everyday life of the individual. In stark contrast to the
glass-and-steel high-rises going up around Beijing, the art galleries,
ateliers and homes, Ai designs are boxy and modest, made from brick and
other vernacular materials.
Ai is one of
the few to have transcended the label 'Chinese artist'. In part thanks
to his gallery Urs Meile (Lucerne and Beijing), Ai has won the support
of strong European collectors. His work is increasingly being shown at
major venues around the world (Kunsthalle Bern, Kunsthaus Graz, Tate
Liverpool) and included in major international exhibitions (the Moscow
Biennial, the Guangzhou Triennale, Documenta).
A complex, multi-faceted
artist, Ai is poised to make a deep impact on contemporary art far
beyond China's borders. Ai Weiwei is represented by Galerie Urs Meile,
Lucerne and Beijing.