Ai wei wei
2015 Royal Academy Exhibition
Chinese artist, Ai Wei Wei generously exhibited a variety of immaculate artworks, at the Royal Academy for the British public. The work exhibited, harbour a political element that reflects his activist beliefs and each artwork allows the beholder to experience the aesthetic pleasure through his use of scale and materials.
Ai's artwork attends to the politics of human rights and addresses the violations on an epic scale. He has been subject to reference a lot of his past encounters with the law in his art. His rebellious actions and dramatically-phenomenal artworks, creates a focal point by widening the gap between the ideal and the real in Chinese society.
The most memorable artwork from Ai's exhibition was, Straight (2008-12). This piece was created in response to his investigation into the tragic Sichuan earthquake of 2008. The piece itself weighs 90 tonnes and consists of rebars, all straightened out and organised in a linear composition, situated in the centre of the room. The rebars are the material collected from the buildings that were destroyed in the earthquake. Accompanying the piece were two large walls that presented lists of names. The 5,000 names represented the children who had sadly passed due to the earthquake. Ai's ability to create a monumental artwork to commemorate the victims who lost their lives, through using raw materials, allows the beholder to experience the aftermaths reality of this unfortunate situation. This phenomenal artwork, delineates this unfortunate event immaculately.
Further along in the exhibition, were pieces I did not really care for. In comparison to the large installations Ai had situated, the vases seemed to of represented a separate exhibition. This is because the pieces did not seem to be in unison with the other artworks. Although the vases were visually interesting to look at, due to the vibrant colours and abstract design, It was difficult to fully grasp the pieces importance, especially after viewing the extraordinary, Straight, in the room prior.
Exhibition rating: 9/10
Straight, 2008-12
Straight, 2008-12
Vases
