Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei was born in 1957 in Beijing, is one of the leading artists as well as independent curators and architectural designers in China.
His father was the famous Chinese poet Ai. In 1978, Ai enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy and attended school with famous Chinese directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. In 1979 he was one of the founders of the early avant garde art group the "Stars." From 1981-93, he lived in the United States, mostly in New York, doing performance art and creating conceptual art by altering readymade objects. In 1993, Ai returned to China because his father took ill. Back in Beijing, he helped establish the experimental artists' East Village and published a series of three books about this new generation of artists: Black Cover Book (1994), White Cover Book (1995), and Gray Cover Book (1997). Since then he has produced iconoclastic work focusing on China's cultural history, centralized political system, and the contradictions of modernity. His artwork has been exhibited extensively in the United States, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, China, Korea and Japan. His work was included in the '48th Venice Biennale 1999', Italy; the 'First Guangzhou Triennial 2002', China 'Zones of Contact: 2006 Biennale of Sydney' and Documenta 12.
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His father was the famous Chinese poet Ai. In 1978, Ai enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy and attended school with famous Chinese directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. In 1979 he was one of the founders of the early avant garde art group the "Stars." From 1981-93, he lived in the United States, mostly in New York, doing performance art and creating conceptual art by altering readymade objects. In 1993, Ai returned to China because his father took ill. Back in Beijing, he helped establish the experimental artists' East Village and published a series of three books about this new generation of artists: Black Cover Book (1994), White Cover Book (1995), and Gray Cover Book (1997). Since then he has produced iconoclastic work focusing on China's cultural history, centralized political system, and the contradictions of modernity. His artwork has been exhibited extensively in the United States, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, China, Korea and Japan. His work was included in the '48th Venice Biennale 1999', Italy; the 'First Guangzhou Triennial 2002', China 'Zones of Contact: 2006 Biennale of Sydney' and Documenta 12.
(c) Wikipedia
selected exhibitions (popup)
Available works
 | Temple Beaufort 2006 (sold) Ai Wei Wei offers a synthesis of traditional Chinese art and western influences. He breaks with the foundations of Chinese art by abandoning the centuries-old sterile repetition of the same motives over and over again. Ai Wei Wei’ s work is cerebral and conceptual but at the same time funny and rebellious. He has been influenced by artists such as Marcel Duchamp but also by Chinese art history. Portable Temple – Ai Wei Wei’s creation for Beaufort 2006, is a structure which hovers between an architectural installation and a Chinese temple. Ai Wei Wei combines the contemporary efficiency of western IKEA principles with age-old religious traditions in China. The portable temple is made of compressed bamboo sheets. In this way the artist delivers a piece with a very strong sculptural character. The craftsmanship which went into the assembly blurs the distinction between old and new and questions the authority of authenticity. Compressed bamboo sheets 7.2 x 5.4 x 5.4 m |