A nonprofit organization, art21s mission is to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists. How chinese artist ai weiwei became an enemy of the state. Ai weiwei is one of the best known artists working today. A cultural figure of international renown, ai weiwei is an activist, architect, curator, filmmaker, and chinas most famous artist. See available sculpture, prints and multiples, and photographs for sale and learn about the artist. Ai weiwei is the most famous chinese artist living today. The reason why ai weiwei is the worlds most powerful artist. Ai weiwei and a great selection of similar new, used and collectible books available now at great prices.
The artwork that made me the most dangerous person in china ai weiwei in 2009, the dissident artist created a work to honour the thousands of. Ai weiwei kunstenaars monografieen kunstboek shop online. An outspoken human rights activist, ai was arrested by chinese authorities in april 2011 and held incommunicado for three months. Phaidon is the premier global publisher of the creative arts with over 1,500 titles in print. Manifestos and immodest proposals from chinas most famous artist and activist, culled from his popular blog, shut down by chinese authorities in 2009. In do it yourself published by phaidon, 50 designers and artists have. Thats the story behind the push chair, a very direct kind of connection. Ai weiwei is one of the most wellknown, influential, and prolific artists active in china today. Oct, 2017 at the controversial center of ai weiweis great wall of art in new york, the dissident artist is selfieobsessed and selfreflective by stephanie eckardt october, 2017 6. Karen smith, the curator and critic, has done invaluable work on chinese art for years, including a long essay last year about ai weiwei in a book from phaidon press. Oct 15, 2017 ai weiwei s gilded cage in new york city, part of the chinese dissident artist s citywide installation project, good fences make good neighbors.
Jan 01, 2011 ai weiwei is a chinese contemporary artist, active in blogging, sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism. Dec 11, 2016 ai weiwei, the acclaimed chinese artist, takes us on a walk through his old stomping ground in tompkins square park. Learn more about ai weiwei through our contemporary artist series book. Ai weiwei phaidon contemporary artist series 9780714848891 by karen smith. This is just a sign of another failure for the chinese government in a twoday digital conference, the artist shares his thoughts on the communist partys handling of the. Ai weiweis work is an audacious blend of old and new, western and eastern, serious and irreverent. The twentyfirst century art book is a fascinating overview of what has been a. Published may 16th 2009 by phaidon press first published august 1st 2008. What picasso was to the 20th century, ai weiwei is to the 21st, and if our century is to be the chinese century, then its fitting that the greatest artist of the age is chinese.
Ai weiwei s little blue book on the refugee crisis. We work with the worlds most influential artists, chefs, writers and thinkers to produce innovative books on art, photography, design, architecture, fashion, food and travel, and illustrated books for children. The case for ai weiwei the art assignment pbs digital. Find an indepth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. An artist must be an activist ai weiwei, photographed on 2 february in his berlin studio.
At the end of the 1970s he cofounded the avantgarde artists group stars. Art21 produces the peabody awardwinning pbsbroadcast series. A portrait, by tina barney and stephen shore phaidon. Ai weiwei is a chinese contemporary artist and activist. Art21 is a celebrated global leader in presenting thoughtprovoking and sophisticated content about contemporary art, and the goto place to learn firsthand from the artists of our time.
If ai weiwei, the much admired chinese dissident artist, were a character in a novel, i would know exactly what to think about him. The prominent chinese artist and dissident ai weiwei has long used his fame and social media as a megaphone for his activism. Ai weiweis contribution is, like much of the artists work, deceptively. The artwork that made me the most dangerous person in china ai weiwei in 2009, the dissident artist created a work to honour the thousands of children who died in the sichuan earthquake. Ai weiwei courtesy of acute art and the artist ai has been left devastated by his time in germany, where he still has a studio.
Make an ai weiwei sock puppet art and design the guardian. This book is so interesting that once you starting reading, it is hard to put it down. As an activist, he has been openly critical of the chinese governments stance on democracy and human rights. Taschens new book, meticulously edited and lavishly produced. He has come to be regarded as a contemporary artist of global stature, and his strong social conscience has galvanised a generation of artists. In his sculptures he refashions artefacts and antiques into surprising, sometimes monumental constructions such as temp. Ai weiwei has 58 books on goodreads with 2921 ratings. Working in sculpture, photography, film, installation, design, music, and architecture, ai engages political and cultural criticism to investigate instances of government corruption and coverups, confronting chinas stance on democracy and human rights. The charges of tax evasion, online dissemination of pornography, and bigamy that were levied against ai are widely. He has translated the readymade into a new artistic language, fusing neolithic pottery, fourteenthcentury doors and seventeenthcentury temple beams into surprising, at times shocking sculptures.
Ai weiwei s work is an audacious blend of old and new, western and eastern, serious and irreverent. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the us or from the uk, depending on stock availability. The chinese art book presents a definitive selection of 300 works, from the. The twentyfirst century art book by phaidon editors. Ai weiweis good fences make good neighbors cbs news. Ai weiweis little blue book on the refugee crisis the. Art, human rights, and the power of writing a letter. A figure of warholian celebrity as labeled by new york times, he is renowned for his political activism and social media activity almost as much as for his social interventions, approach to the readymade, and knowledge of chinese.
Mustreads on ai weiwei and chinese art the new yorker. The first monograph on the key figure in chinese fastgrowing art scene. Artists hand 2017 is a rhodiumplated sculpture of ai weiweis hand, and is part of his study of perspective series in which the artist photographed his hand flipping off significant landmarks and world monuments in a rejection of authority and political oppression and as a sign of individual expression. Ai weiwei contemporary artists phaidon by karen smith, hans ulrich obrist, et al.
The best books for art lovers around the world culture trip. As an activist, he calls attention to human rights violations on an epic scale. Anri sala by anri sala, 9780714845272, available at book depository with free delivery. Apparently not the producers of this book, whove simply arranged moreorless. At the controversial center of ai weiweis great wall of art.
Artist, designer, architect, author, publisher and curator. Upon his release, he was prohibited from traveling abroad, engaging in public speech, and was subjected to continued. In his sculptures he refashions artefacts and antiques into surprising, sometimes monumental constructions such as template 2007. Ai weiwei, chinese artist and activist whose work included sculptural installations, architectural projects, photographs, and videos. From artist monographs to surveys of movements, here are just a few. In an exclusive extract from a new book of diy projects by artists and designers. While ais art was lauded internationally, its frequently provocative dimension as well as his political outspokenness triggered forms of repression from chinese authorities. Ai weiwei phaidon contemporary artist series f first edition edition by karen smith author. The incredible story behind ai weiweis pushchair art.
Stroll in the park with ai weiwei the new york times. Ai weiwei s provocative art has gotten him harassed by police, thrown in detention and driven out of china. Chinese dissident artist ai weiwei may not be able to leave china, but his art is free to travel and some of it is now in washington, dc. A global citizen, artist and thinker, ai weiwei moves between modes of production and investigation, subject to the direction and outcome of his research, whether into the chinese earthquake of 2008 for works such as straight, 200812 and remembering, 2009 or the worldwide plight of refugees and forced migrants for law of the journey and his featurelength documentary, human flow. The work is made from straightened steel reinforcing bars, salvaged from the ruins of the 2008 sichuan earthquake. Artist, designer, architect, author, publisher, and curator. Turn nothing into something make a drawing, make a mark. Ai wei wei as wonderful dissident, terrible artist the new. The reason why ai weiwei is the worlds most powerful artist phaidon.
Ai grew up in the far northwest of china, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his fathers exile. Open in his criticism of the chinese government, ai was famously detained for months in 2011, then released to house arrest. Ai weiweis monumental work straight is the heaviest sculpture ever shown at the royal academy. The first comprehensive monograph on the life and work of activist and dissident chinese artist ai weiwei, this luxurious, silkwrapped tome takes the cake for summers most sumptuous gift book. Ai weiwei phaidon contemporary artist series karen smith, hans ulrich obrist, bernard fibicher, ai weiwei, craig garrett, michele robecchi on. In 2006, even though he could barely type, chinas most famous artist started blogging. Four exhibitions of his work are currently in new york. Weiwei isms by ai, weiwei and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Ai weiwei turns the armory into a surveillance play. Ai weiwei hon ra is a truly twentyfirstcentury creative, influential across a variety of media. We work with the worlds most influential artists, chefs, writers and.
By 2012 however, he had fallen from favour and, after being placed under house arrest, inaugarated his own weiweicam, a selfimposed. Ai weiwei new video art shot on public bus in china phaidon. A great book to learn more about ai weiwei and why he creates the art he does. Every book is hand signed by yang lian and ai weiwei. I would regard him as a fascination, at once formidable and. For more than three years, ai weiwei turned out a steady stream of scathing social commentary, criticism of government policy, thoughts on art and. Sep 01, 2011 this september were celebrating contemporary art and apart from loads of exciting content throughout the month, were inviting you to vote for your favourite art funded contemporary masterpiece, by voting youll also be in with a chance to win phaidon s beautiful new art book the art museum worth. Make an ai weiwei artwork blog royal academy of arts.
Ai weiwei has been called an iconoclast, a radical, a voice for the voiceless, and was once named the most powerful artist in the world. Chinese artist ai weiwei has created a cuddlier version of this message of defiance for a new book of design projects by artists. Ai weiwei phaidon contemporary artist series karen smith, hans ulrich. Marlow, tim, tancock, john, rosbottom, daniel, locke. Dec 02, 2016 these choices are correlated to ones spiritual predicament, and the goal is a return to the self, the pursuit of spiritual values, and the summoning of spirits. With his personal circumstances moving in constant flux, ai weiwei, a chinese artist, remains a cultural magnet.