bricworks3 the watercube post-olympics ai weiwei - ARCHILEPSY ...

Whether it is through the curatorial lens
of the many museums and galleries
that dot our cities or through the street
artists who wait for the brief pauses in life’s rhythm
to lay their anonymous mark, we often take for
granted the abundant opportunities for freedom
of expression that the Western world affords us.
In China, these opportunities can be very limited.
In his work as a contemporary artist and political
activist, Ai Weiwei reveals to us a cultural tension
between art, the free expression of individuals, and
the heavy hand of state censorship.
Ai Weiwei, born the son of Chinese poet Ai
Quing in 1957, was brought into this world during
a tumultuous time in Chinese political history. The
Chinese Revolution, led by Mao Zedong, saw the
proliferation of communist principles on the Chinese
people and the dissolve of a class society. Anyone in
opposition to the movement was quickly suppressed
by Mao and sent away. In 1956 Ai Quing, once an
ally of the Communist Party, wrote the Gardener’s
Dream, a poem about a rose gardener who realizes
that he has been discriminating against other
flowers. Interpreted as a counter-revolutionary
piece, Ai Quing was sent into exile in a labor camp.
Ai Weiwei was just one year old.
In labor camps, the people had to learn to build
much of their environment from scratch. This is
where, from a very early age, Ai Weiwei was able to
learn many skills in craft and making, from molding
and firing bricks to building handmade furniture.
In many ways this allowed Ai to develop a close
relationship with materials and building, honing
skills that would later manifest in his art.
rad artist spotlight
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