Portrait of Ai Weiwei
Renowned for his multiple public discourses with the Chinese government along with his subversive and dynamic structures of art, Ai Weiwei is perhaps one of the most dedicated artists and activists in the 21st century. Over the course of his life, Ai has challenged the Chinese government’s authority and restriction over democracy and public rights while pulling away from the strands of tradition from modern China. His art behaves as an investigation into a capitalist regime, highlighting the numerous sacrifices burdened over normal people through such gross political conduct.
The Beginning of Ai’s Activism
Before Ai was titled the most controversial Chinese artist, followed by a number of criminal accusations and charges, he was a young boy sent in exile with his family due to his father’s poetry. Ai Qing, Weiwei’s father, was a significant figure for Chinese Modernism with multiple publications in poetry. However, he was sentenced to exile in a labor camp in 1985 because he had openly condemned certain actions of the Communist government. This led to Ai being forced to move to a remote locality at just the age of one.
For 16 years, Ai experienced countless hardships while navigating his life in exile. He suffered the brunt of government oppression against dissent, and this was perhaps one of the most influential moments which developed his sense of activism. When his father was eventually released, Ai and his family travelled back to Beijing where he joined the Beijing Film Academy and established an avant-garde called ‘Stars’ with a few of his classmates.
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Ai desired a life away from the governmental oppression and with an opportunity of studying abroad, Ai enrolled into the University of Pennsylvania and UC Berkley to study English. Interestingly enough, he was also one of the 161 original students who first gave the TOEFL exams in the year 1981.
During this period of his stay in America, Ai shot over 10,000 photographs while also financing his living by selling portraits on the streets of New York. He befriended the famous American Beats poet, Allen Ginsberg, who was acquainted with his father. Ginsberg appeared in many of Ai’s photos in a collection that was later termed as the ‘New York Photographs’.
Architecture and Other Dreams
Ai Weiwei’s artistry develops from his own emotional reaction towards political and cultural conventions. Having been incredibly outspoken throughout his life, Ai began constructing different types of artforms which were not typically shown in traditional China.
He used Western contemporary art concepts to build his own art around Chinese artifacts, including mundane objects such as old bicycles to cultural relics such as old pottery. In one controversial act, Ai dipped a few antique vases from the Ming and Qu dynasties into solutions of bright painting colors. He admits to having repainted such historic artifacts in order to ‘show them off in contemporary museums’ which have ‘much better lighting’ than the traditional ones. This is the 2006 art installation he had titled as ‘Coloured Vases.’
Apart from his interest in art and photography, Ai was thoroughly invested in architecture and established his own architecture studio called FAKE Design in 2003. Despite having gained good success through this, Ai entered a great controversy related to his architecture studio in 2010 when he was put under house-arrest by the government.
According to Ai’s statement, the municipality of Beijing had previously invited multiple artists to build their own studios in the area as an effort to urbanize the region. However, two months after the completion of Ai’s studio, the government issued a notice to demolish the building under the charges of Ai fabricating building documentation while also constructing the place illegally.
Yet, this was not just one of Ai’s run-ins with the police. Being a keen investigator and devoted dissident, Ai attempted to unearth government cover-ups in a 2008 case. He established a ‘Citizens’ Investigation’ where he, along with a group of other investigators, searched for names of children who had perished in an earthquake due to poor infrastructure in public schools.
Ai was later taken to police custody and allegedly beaten up to the point of suffering a brain hemorrhage from internal bleeding. In 2011, he was famously imprisoned for 81 days without charge while trying to flee the country.
Ai Weiwei’s Art of Expression
A large part of Ai’s art began through his numerous installations and interior designs. He focuses extensively on human rights abuses through a concentration on visual arts. The most renowned of his work are typically collaborations he had with other international artists such as Herzog and de Meuron in the 2008 Beijing Olympic National Stadium. The building becomes known as the ‘Bird’s Nest’.
Ai has never shied away from challenging authorities where they need to be challenged. Regardless of his dangerous disputes with the Chinese government, Ai has never failed to use his platform of art to express what he feels and what others feel as well. This is the most distinctive quality maintained in both Ai’s personality and his portfolio. ‘At the moment, my physical freedom is limited, but spiritually it is limitless,’ Ai says in an interview, ‘Freedom is about our struggle for liberty and very often both physical and spiritual freedom need to come together to express emotional truth.’
The interesting aspect about Ai is not just his activism and expression but also his directness in subjects which are usually considered delicate to handle. Take for example, Ai’s 1995 performance art titled ‘Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn’ where he deliberately dropped an ancient urn to have it smashed into pieces for three still-framed photographs. Many are still divided on whether to call Ai’s work as vandalism or expressionism – a controversy which is the defining factor in all of Ai’s projects.
Ai Weiwei in Current Times
Ai Weiwei continues to be an activist for human rights but he has long since relocated to Europe for the safety of his family and himself. In an article by the Guardian, Ai states ‘I became the enemy of the established power, but without a crime’.
He has had multiple illustrations published in well-known magazines such as the Time while also having created an exclusive exhibition for Alcatraz in 2015. He is currently an ambassador for Reporters Without Borders and continues in his strides for challenging power where needed.
Xiaowen Chen, a visiting professor of the arts at Cornell University noted this of Ai Weiwei – ‘Most people look at his work as a social critique and political statement. But to me, his work is both a statement and a playful event. He’s a troublemaker, but he never gets caught. His work shows us anything goes, anything is possible.’