Ai Weiwei's Fight For Freedom
“One Artist, Finger, and Country”: Ai Weiwei’s Fight for Freedom.
Figure 1. Tiananmen Square Ai’s View. From The Study of Perspective, by Ai Weiwei, 1995, http://www.emptykingdom.com/featured/ai-weiwei-study-in-perspective/
Ai Weiwei is a world famous Chinese artist that uses his controversial art to portray his strong political and social views. His works such as The Study of Perspective and Dropping China have an underlying political and social meaning used to activate the oppressed people of China. The Chinese government and traditional citizens see Ai as a very unlawful person that is offending the cultures and rules of many people and countries. On the contrary, abused citizens see him as a hero that is bringing freedom to many oppressed …show more content…
The initial reason Ai strongly disliked the Chinese government was from his dark past. Writer for Plaid Zebra, a political and social lifestyle magazine, Connor Brian describes a story from Ai’s childhood. When Ai was a young boy, Ai and his family were sent to a labour camp. He watched his father be beaten and clean bathrooms for more than two hundred people. This was all because his father was a famed Chinese poet that the government disliked (Brian, 2011, para. 1). After experiencing this Ai has been creating art to undermine the government and its control on the people of China. Charles Merewether, current Curator at the Contemporary Art Gallery at Georgian National Museum of Art and professor at Baptist University, comments in Ai’s book Ai Weiwei: Works: Beijing 1993-2003 that in The Study of Perspective it documents Ai “performing his gesture against various political and cultural landmarks” (Ai, Merewether, 2003, p. 90). Ai does this to show the government that he doesn't want to follow the same restricting laws or stay within the traditional Chinese cultures. Barbara Pollack, writer and editor at Art News, describes how the larger exhibition that this artwork falls under, in Chinese is translated as “Uncooperative Attitude” but the more straightforward and more preferred title was the English translation. Which translates to “Fuck Off”, this exhibition title further explains Ai’s feelings towards the Chinese government (Pollack, 2010, para. 1). Morgan Falconer, Alan Goldstein, Michael Zurakhinsky, and the Art Story Contributors believe the most prominent picture from The Study of Perspective is Tiananmen Square. This location is also known as the “Gate of Heavenly Peace”, but Ai sees it as the location of a very horrifying government related event that killed many innocent people. In 1989 state soldiers shot and killed peaceful protesters in front of this monument and the
Figure 1. Tiananmen Square Ai’s View. From The Study of Perspective, by Ai Weiwei, 1995, http://www.emptykingdom.com/featured/ai-weiwei-study-in-perspective/
Ai Weiwei is a world famous Chinese artist that uses his controversial art to portray his strong political and social views. His works such as The Study of Perspective and Dropping China have an underlying political and social meaning used to activate the oppressed people of China. The Chinese government and traditional citizens see Ai as a very unlawful person that is offending the cultures and rules of many people and countries. On the contrary, abused citizens see him as a hero that is bringing freedom to many oppressed …show more content…
The initial reason Ai strongly disliked the Chinese government was from his dark past. Writer for Plaid Zebra, a political and social lifestyle magazine, Connor Brian describes a story from Ai’s childhood. When Ai was a young boy, Ai and his family were sent to a labour camp. He watched his father be beaten and clean bathrooms for more than two hundred people. This was all because his father was a famed Chinese poet that the government disliked (Brian, 2011, para. 1). After experiencing this Ai has been creating art to undermine the government and its control on the people of China. Charles Merewether, current Curator at the Contemporary Art Gallery at Georgian National Museum of Art and professor at Baptist University, comments in Ai’s book Ai Weiwei: Works: Beijing 1993-2003 that in The Study of Perspective it documents Ai “performing his gesture against various political and cultural landmarks” (Ai, Merewether, 2003, p. 90). Ai does this to show the government that he doesn't want to follow the same restricting laws or stay within the traditional Chinese cultures. Barbara Pollack, writer and editor at Art News, describes how the larger exhibition that this artwork falls under, in Chinese is translated as “Uncooperative Attitude” but the more straightforward and more preferred title was the English translation. Which translates to “Fuck Off”, this exhibition title further explains Ai’s feelings towards the Chinese government (Pollack, 2010, para. 1). Morgan Falconer, Alan Goldstein, Michael Zurakhinsky, and the Art Story Contributors believe the most prominent picture from The Study of Perspective is Tiananmen Square. This location is also known as the “Gate of Heavenly Peace”, but Ai sees it as the location of a very horrifying government related event that killed many innocent people. In 1989 state soldiers shot and killed peaceful protesters in front of this monument and the