Ai Weiwei is an international figure in the art world. He is China’s most famous living artist. He was born in Beijing on August 28, 1957. He is the son of acclaimed poet, Ai Qing. Growing up in exile laid the groundwork for his future as social activist for freedom of speech and against injustice. He combines art with political activism.
Ai Weiwei was invited to write a blog for the Chinese Web portal Sina in 2005. His blog was shut down by Sina on May 28, 2009, because of its popularity and his unreserved attitude on the Sichuan earthquake and the Beijing Olympic games. He turned to Twitter and writes large quantities over the platform. He claims he tweets at least eight hours online every day.
Much of his art illustrates destruction and recreation. One example of such work is a series of three photographs called “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn”, in which he shatters a priceless ancient Chinese vase.
He has produced a series of photographs depicts global icons. Examples of these are the U.S.’s White House, Paris’s Eiffel Tower, and the Forbidden City. These photographs includes Ai’s hand with a middle finger raised.
Some of his art work include pieces of furniture placed in Ming and Qin period urns and Warhol-style paintings. Some of his pieces of art depict architecture speared by wooden beams. Other pieces have haunting or scary features. An excellent example of his skill as an architect is the Beijing’s landmark Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium.
Mr. Ai has produced art in many unusual areas. For example, he is a maker of custom-made children’s backpacks. In addition to all of the paintings and photographs and structures he has designed, Ai is a documentary filmmaker.
For his political actions, the government exiled Ai, first to Manchuria, then to remotest northwest China. There, he and his family lived in a hut dug into the ground. His job for the next 16 years was to clean out the village’s public toilets. He made the toilet so clean, he would see it as work of art like a museum.
His most provocative art demonstrates the tragedy of May 2008 Sichuan earthquake that killed thousands of children in their classrooms – and the government’s silence on the disaster.
After the quake, Mr. Ai used the internet to assemble many volunteers who made a list of more than 5,000 dead children. This list now covers one wall of his studio. The exhibit of backpacks of the children killed in the earthquake is Mr. Ai Weiwei most arresting work of art. It is titled “Sorry”. The children’s backpacks covers one exterior wall of the Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany.
Ai said he came to art to escape the other regulations of the society. Because the whole society is so political, and he fought against injustice, his art became very political.
Ai Weiwei was invited to write a blog for the Chinese Web portal Sina In 2005. His blog was shut down by Sina on May 28, 2009. He turned to Twitter and writes a lots on political topics.
