Chinese art has come a long way over the years when it comes to the freedom of expression that a Chinese artist is allowed to display. In the years under Mao Zedong, Chinese artist probability experienced the largest amount of oppression when it came to their artistic freedom. The only art during these cultural revolution times, where pieces that showed off the greatness that is China, Communism and the leader Mao. Scholars tend to think that after Mao’s passing that Chinese art for the first time in a long time becomes free again to send messages free of Communist propaganda. But if one was to ask Ai Weiwei if he thought he was free to express himself though his art in modern day china, he would most likely respond that he cannot produce his work in China.

Ai Weiwei is one of the first Chinese contemporary artist. One of the first exhibitions that Ai Weiwei participated in was the Stars Art group, who for the first time in China had an avant garde exhibition. This exhibition featured several pieces of art that where not in line with the government party and appeared to have other political messages that the Chinese government would like. As a result the exhibition was shutdown. Much like the first person to do anything, Ai Weiwei’s work was often not understood in the beginning, much like early Warhol work who Ai Weiwei has said he took inspiration from. This stars exhibition inspired Chinese artist to look at art differently for the first time.

Much later down the road after Ai Weiweis continued to refine his artistic personality. His art had begun to draw to much negative attention from the Chinese government as a result of his artwork. In 2011 this culminated in the Chinese government detaining him for several months and then eventually being put on house arrest. While he was on house arrest there where security cameras installed by the Chinese government looking into his home. This prompted him to recreate these cameras in a classical method of carved marble. This back and forth artistic struggle between Ai Weiwei and the Chinese government eventually prompted him to move away from China with his family while still creating powerful works of art with meaning while drawing attention to Chinese or greater world problems that he feels must not be overlooked.

Ai Weiwei is such a world renound artist and is so influential that as I was researching him this week no only where there several different video interviews he had taken part of on various new sources but their was also a very interisting article that poped up written about him by the Smithsonian Magazine in 2012. This article titled Is Ai Weiwei China’s Most Dangerous Man? instantly drew my attention. The writer Mark Stevens goes into great deapth on how the chinese government and Ai Weiwei have had a great deal of friction between them over the lifetime of the artist. With the articile comparing Ai Weiwei artistic attitude to that of Warhol, the message comes across clearly that Ai Weiwei has a statment he wants to make about China and the many wrongs that they have done or continue to do, Ai Weiwei will draw attention to them. For China having someone air that draws this much world wide attention to the negative aspects of your county this make him surley the most dangerous man.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/is-ai-weiwei-chinas-most-dangerous-man-17989316/

Ai Weiwei, Instillation, Life-jackets, Konzerthaus Berlin 2016

This instillation comes in the wake of several pieces of art from Ai Weiwei with the focus on refugees in Europe. The first major piece Ai Weiwei constructed on refugees was a recreation of the famous photo of a drowned Syrian refugee child washed up on the shores of  Greece. This photo drew world wide attention to struggles Syrian refugees where enduring in the hopes of getting their families somewhere safe. Ai Weiwei connected to the struggle the refugees where experiencing as he also had to leave his home country of china as it was not safe for him any longer. This put him in a unique situation where his voice on the crisis had a very strong impact. Shortly after his photo recreation Ai Weiwei chose to cancel an instillation he had planned in Copenhagen after hearing of a law passed in Denmark that allowed authorities to seize valuable assets of asylum seekers and withhold them from their families. All of this occurred in 2015 subsequently in 2016 Ai Weiwei created his instillation which features the Pillars of the Konzerthaus Berlin in Germany fully wrapped in life jacket. This instillation was put up during the same time the Berlin film festival was occurring. Some believe that the instillation which clearly is in reference to the ongoing Syrian refugee situation was not well thought out (Neuendorf, 2016), as it was installed in a Germany who had accepted the most refugees out of any country in the European union. However in typical Ai Weiwei fashion, he lets the work speak for itself and chooses to have very little commentary about it. While some think that it is wrong to have put this instillation in Germany, the art instantly drew great media attention and brought the focus back to the refugee crisis which is most likely what Ai Weiwei intended.

Bibliography

Tan, Monica. “Ai Weiwei Poses as Drowned Syrian Infant Refugee in ‘Haunting’ Photo.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 Feb. 2016, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/feb/01/ai-weiwei-poses-as-drowned-syrian-infant-refugee-in-haunting-photo.

Neuendorf, Henri. “Ai Weiwei Showcases 14,000 Refugee Life Jackets in Berlin.” Artnet News, 15 Feb. 2016, news.artnet.com/art-world/ai-weiwei-life-jackets-installation-berlin-427247.