Ai Weiwei, Royal Academy ★★★★★
BOOK NOW: Don’t miss one of the best art shows in London 2015 - international megastar Ai Weiwei comes to the Royal Academy
Ai Weiwei, Royal Academy [STAR:5]
The Royal Academy Ai Weiwei exhibition 2015 has been the talk of the town for months. Now that it is finally here, it’s everything we'd hoped and dreamed: a spectacular ride which hits all the rights notes of shock and awe.
Ai Weiwei's art is often eclipsed by his ferocious political protests, imprisonment and social media addiction (a tool which has been instrumental in his rise to notoriety). This is an oversight. His art is astounding, and to see so much of it in the flesh is a once-in-a-lifetime privilege. There's a hush over the Royal Academy galleries as visitors emerge with that shared feeling that something momentous just happened.
"Everything is art and everything is politics," Ai explains. His own work is a j'acuse levelled against the Chinese government, yet it is just as compassionate and humorous as it is revolutionary.
CALLING ART ENTHUSIASTS: A CHANCE TO WIN
The Royal Academy of Arts and Culture Whisper have joined forces, offering one lucky reader the chance to win a pair of tickets to this unmissable exhibition:
- Two tickets for the final weekend 11-3 December open for 56 non-stop hours.
follow us & retweet to enter
The Royal Academy of Arts and Culture Whisper have joined forces, offering one lucky reader the chance to win a pair of tickets to this unmissable exhibition:
- Two tickets for the final weekend 11-3 December open for 56 non-stop hours.
follow us & retweet to enter
Ai Weiwei’s outspoken criticism of the Chinese government made his name, but it also provoked a severe backlash, which has changed his life forever.
Resonating throughout the Royal Academy show is the impact of surveillance, violence and imprisonment. A delicate pram nestled amongst blades of marble grass references the moment that Ai discovered a police informer snapping photographs of his young son as they strolled in the park one afternoon. It’s a heart-wrenching piece that gently alludes to Ai’s painful collisions with the Chinese government.
Ai Weiwei,Straight, 2008–12, Lisson Gallery, London. Image courtesy Ai Weiwei. © Ai Weiwei
Ai's Straight (2008-12) dominates a room towards the beginning of the exhibition, and it's a tear-jerker. Ninety tonnes of bent and twisted steel rods that have been ceremoniously straightened as a stark monument to the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.
The artist also published the names of each child that was killed in the disaster, despite the cover-up by the Chinese government, which are pasted along the walls of the Royal Academy. There was an outcry against the government as school buildings had been left in poor structural condition after officials cut corners to pocket the savings.
Destruction
The sobering rubble of the earthquake is one of several pieces that use destruction to create shocking and powerful artworks. Just take a look at Ai’s famous performance when he smashed a priceless Han dynasty urn: his poker face never flinches. In fact Ai Weiwei looks a little like a naughty schoolboy – but is it cultural preservation or destruction?
Even when his studio in Shanghai was demolished in a day, Ai Weiwei saved the debris for the spectacular puzzle Souvenir for Shanghai, which weaves a bed frame between bricks and mortar. Nearby, a pile of scrabbling crabs reference the decadent feast Ai had with friends the night before the building was torn down.
Ai Weiwei materials and techniques
The innovative way Ai uses materials and craft strengthens his work, brought to life by a talented team of workers. Antique furniture pieces are transformed into useless and politically potent objects as arches of temple fragments are patched together with traditional techniques.
The laboratory of alchemic materials even moulds handcuffs into jade and the bones of protestors into fine china. In the field of grass surrounding Ai’s pram, the marble has been carefully chosen from the quarry, which was mined for the Forbidden City and Chairman Mao’s mausoleum. Ai Weiwei’s work is never simple; there are always layers of meaning to unravel.
S.A.C.R.E.D.
It's brave, honest, and a defiant protest against past restrictions: "Art always wins. Anything can happen to me, but the art always stays". Never is this so apparent as in the six vitrines entitled S.A.C.R.E.D. (2011-13). These terracotta recreations of Ai Weiwei’s prison capture his essential activities during 81 days of captivity, while two guards stood in silence two metres away. It’s a terrifying scene, but like the rest of the show - it feels like a story that needs to be told.
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| What | Ai Weiwei, Royal Academy |
| Where | Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Green Park (underground) |
| When |
19 Sep 15 – 13 Dec 15, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM |
| Price | £15.50, under 16s go free |
| Website | Click here for more information |