Ai Weiwei is a Chinese native artist who deals with a lot of political art. China has a much different restriction and government view on art than America so the significance of Ai Weiwei’s art is very important. He does political pieces that express the oppression that the Chinese government puts on its people as well as him breaking the Chinese traditional ways. He is considered a human’s rights activist and is thought of as a trouble maker by the Chinese government. He was arrested in 2011 and held in jail for three months. after his release he was prohibited to travels out of the country. He is under constant government surveillance.
This is an Ai Weiwei peice of him flipping off important Chinese monuments and government buildings.
this is a piece dealing with the corruption of the chinese communism.
Sunflower seeds comes from Weiwei’s fond memory of being a kid and everyone, even the poorest of Chinese, sharing sunflower seeds with each other. The work includes over 100 million hand painted sunflower seeds made of porcelain. The piece was weighed over 150 tons.