The Chinese artist is one of the most celebrated contemporary artists in the East and West, a global citizen who calls for political investigation within his wide practice. Ai Weiwei investigates and questions institutions and regimes at the core of his work, he measures our existence in relation to economic, political, and social forces, while his practice is rooted in Chinese tradition he executes within a contemporary and conceptual creativity.

His provocative blend of Chinese tradition and craftsmanship within fully contemporary practice serves his strong criticism of human rights violations and condemnations of governmental corruption. His own life since childhood has been marked by his struggles and fights against the Chinese Government. His father, a renewed poet, was declared “class enemy” and sent to labor camp with his family. Migrating to New York was his opportunity to expand his artistic vocabularies where he stayed for over a decade. During this time, he became influenced by the works of Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, and Hasper Johns.
He was secretly detained without any official charges being filed for 81 days from April 3 to June 22, 2011 by the Chinese government, and his passport was held for 4 years afterward. Since being allowed to leave China in 2015 he has produced monumental installations and artworks that advocate for refugee rights and make awareness on the global crisis of displacement.

Ai Weiwei

Dissident artist Ai Weiwei is famous for conceptual artworks that challenge authority and explore the links between the contemporary world and traditional Chinese culture.

https://data.wengcontemporary.com/media/Ai_Weiwei_PapercutPortfolio_Content_sheet_2024__NEW_BRANDING_compressed.pdf

In his "Papercut" Portfolio of 8 Prints, Ai Weiwei reflects on his life and work through the Chinese art of papercutting. Each of the eight pieces is meticulously cut in large-format, brightly red-colored fine-art paper, representing a turning moment within the artist’s iconic oeuvre: from his permanence in New York in the ’80s, his exploration of the traditional Chinese crafts in Beijing in the ’90s, to the political activism of his most recent production


Each papercut is signed by the artist and collected in a portfolio accompanied by explanatory notes by Chin-Chin Yap, who has extensively worked with Ai Weiwei, most recently as a writer and co-producer on several films. Through these eight pieces, the artist offers a beautiful, personal retrospective in a unique format.

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“ I think there is a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression. „

—Ai Weiwei