ARTinvestment.RU tells about one of the greatest artists of our time-dissidents

Who is AI Weiwei (Ai Weiwei, b. 1957), in Russia not everyone could answer, but the most famous work by this artist know everything, or almost everything. Ay is one of the sponsors of the stadium "bird's nest" built for the Beijing Olympics 2008. However, at the opening ceremony of the games he refused to come, and indeed expressed their negative attitude to this event: according to him, only deeply flawed, the government will "lift the spirit of people" with costly circuses, while the country is corruption, and every day human rights are violated. So why is the artist participated in the creation of the official symbol of "new China"? "Because I love to design buildings", — he said.

Installation and sculpture Traveler offering impeccable technical execution and stunning entertainment — a real feast for the eyes, but the visual power is always combined with a sharp political commentary. Who-то can accuse him of megalomania, a desire to "spectacularly", however, AI believes that to effect change, if only to speak out loud. The topics addressed in his works, is so important that sometimes people even volunteer to help him in the beginnings, is fraught with serious conflicts with the authorities. This, of course, talking about the project "the Names of Sichuan earthquake", for which the artist, along with volunteers, has compiled a list of the schoolchildren who died in the terrible disaster, — on the adoption Traveler, if officials have not plundered the money allocated for repair of schools, then many deaths could have been avoided. The Chinese authorities sought to silence information, severely punish the activists. Blog Aya was closed, and the artist himself was beaten burst into a hotel room by the police, so much so that he suffered a brain hemorrhage and required a complex operation. Got and its volunteers: one of them, Ian Lizi (Yang Licai), published an article which spoke about the violence with which he had to face while working on the project.

Recently in San-францисской Haines Gallery hosted a solo exhibition of Aya, the centerpiece of which was a huge snake, made of children's backpacks — powerful and terrible monument to the victims of the earthquake. Last year, the facade of the Munich House of arts was decorated with a different installation, which went nine thousand backpacks: the phrase "She lived happily in this world for seven years" on the bright-синем background. Simple, everyday objects often appear in the artist's works, not only as material: San-Франциско you can see porcelain copies of colorful dresses for the girls, bought in a regular Department store. Turning a three-clothes in an expensive collector's object, he pays tribute to the nameless Chinese who feel the oppression of political experiments. These works as close to the installation "sunflower Seeds" — neat mound of porcelain sunflower seeds. During the "Great leap forward" these seeds were the staple food of millions of starving peasants. Twenty assistants worked on this installation for a year. This method of manufacture works, akin to artist with pop stars-арта Jeff Koons (Jeff Koons) and Takashi Murakami (Takashi Murakami), in which-то the measure can be considered as mega-комментарий about the image of China as a major country in the world-производителя and the "land of fakes".

For dissidence in China is really put. Activist Thanh Tsogang (Tan Zuoren), who prepared a database of those killed during the earthquake, was sentenced to five years — and this is just one example. With brutality mode Ah is familiar not by hearsay: all his childhood he bore the mark of the son of an "enemy of the people" — of his father, famous poet AI Qing (Ai Qing), was one of hundreds of thousands of intellectuals sent to "reeducation" in labor camps. The family was forced to live in the dugout, being subjected to daily humiliation by the local residents. "For one wrong phrase you could pay with their lives", — says the artist. After the Cultural revolution AI Qing was rehabilitated. In the country re-opened the universities, and his son was able to enroll in two prestigious educational institution — Beijing Academy of cinema (where he also studied the famous film Directors Chen Kaige (Chen Kaige) and Zhang Yimou (Zhang Yimou)) and the Central Academy of fine arts. In the late 1970-х he joined the group "the Stars" — one of the first Chinese avant-garde associations, and in 1981-м went to comprehend the basics of modern art to America.

Returning home after twelve years, ay became one of the founders of the Beijing "East-Виллиджа" — quarter of contemporary artists. Interestingly, prior to 2000 it was known not as an artist but as a promoter of experimental art: AI has published books and organized a variety of activities. During the Shanghai Biennale in 2000, he became one of the organizers of the exhibition Fuck Off — legendary extreme show of Chinese art, later closed by the police. "The exhibition was an ugly, bloody, brutal and sickening, but not so far from reality, — said AI Weiwei in an interview with The Art Newspaper. — Reality in China at least a million times worse".

Among the exhibits of "Fuck Off" was "provocative" work Traveler, made in 1990-х. In one series of photographs the artist shows the middle finger to the symbols of state power, such as Tiananmen square, the White house and the Reichstag. In another, he breaks 2000-летнюю Han vase. Irreverent, sometimes even cruel treatment of antiquities characteristic of creativity Aya: widely known, for example, it is a fantastic structure made from fragments of antique furniture and ancient temples. From the same series — vintage pottery, zaklejmennyj logo "Coca-Колы" or painted in the cheery "Warhol's" color. In these works, AI protests against the cult of history in the service of primitive nationalism. You can also interpret his actions as utterance about a capitalist building boom, destroying not only the historical monuments but also the local community.

, we can Hardly expect that a-нибудь the Chinese Museum in the near future will agree to host the exhibition Aya Weiwei. But his welcome foreign institutions: in the past year, major exhibitions were held in Munich and Tokyo (Mori Art Museum); and this fall ay will place one of its installations in the Turbine hall of London's Tate Modern. Now one of its main activities is the maintenance of Twitter, which is read by tens of thousands of people. As the artist himself refers to his glory? According to Aya, to go down in history he is not seeking: "I want to be forgotten." The artist stresses that his works he speaks about the bread, and hoped that when-нибудь his "message" will cease to be relevant.

Since our website is devoted to investing in art, we cannot ignore the issue of market reaction to the works of Aya Weiwei. His work is quite sought after by collectors: among collectors of his work — major Chinese collector of contemporary art And Guan (Guan Yi). At a recent Sotheby's auction's in Hong Kong, his sculpture "Table with two legs" brought 180 thousand dollars, exceeding the upper estimeyt twice. And the record belongs to the "Candelabra", sold in 2007 for 550 thousand

the Material was prepared Yulia Maksimova, AI

Sources: artinfo.com, artzinechina.com, artprice.com, artinvestment.ru