Ai Weiwei

Fantastic exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the work of contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

From the first room of this show I was completely engaged by it and I hadn’t expected to be. I’d seen a few Ai WeiWei pieces before but not really understood them. This show, particularly the audio tour, really explained what the works mean, how they were made and the inspiration for them. In that first room was a wonderful low wooden structure called “Bed” which resembled a Chinese bed with ridges across it but the edges made the contours of the landscape of China. A huge piece of work but with a simple idea.

I loved his reuse of items from the past, old furniture, wood salvaged from temples and even the rubble from his own studio complex commissioned by a local council but ordered to be demolished by the government. I was a bit unsure about the repainting and breaking of ancient vases. I worry when an artist destroys an old work to make a new one! I get the meaning of it but the old piece is unsalvageable.

The best room for me had a work called “Straight” in it. Again a low landscape but this time made of metal bars from earthquake damaged buildings, straightened out and made into this huge work. The poor metal in the bars and their poor use in construction had been partly to blame for the scale of the destruction in the disaster. I loved the idea of the work that went into straightening the bars and the collaborative effort involved. I loved the fact that something which had been partly to blame for the death toll had been used in creating a memorial. I also found it a very soothing piece. I spent a lot of the time in the room looking at it for every angle. It had a similar effect on me to Anthony Gormley’s “Field” pieces with their repetitive little figures.

The large room with the six boxes you peeped into from the side or above which showed scenes from his imprisonment was fascinating. The claustrophobic effects of having two guards with you constantly yet not speaking to you, even watching you sleep, was horrific and so well represented by this work. I loved the added element here that the Michelangelo Tondo was looking down on it setting up a dialogue between Renaissance art and contemporary.

Finally I have to mention the beautiful chandelier of bicycle parts created for this exhibition and using the round central space so well. A great show!

Closed on 13 December 2015.

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