Yummy Malaysiana: Yi Copying AWW

Yi Copying AWW

thought my daughter's post today was interesting so I got her permission to re-post it here. She's working in shanghai and loving it.

NOV 16, 2011

"Huh? Wei Wei Who?"

If you've been following the news lately, or working in a creative industry, you cannot NOT know who Ai Weiwei is! Weiwei was recently namedArtview's most powerful personin the art world, and is also inTIME magazine's Top 100 people of 2011. Which is why I was really surprised when I mentioned his name to friends back in Australia, only to get a 'huh?' response when I rambled on about his recent issues with the Communist Party of China. And when I accused them for living under a rock, the response was, "Hah...you're becoming too Chinese...who knows what's going on there?!" SIGH! That seems to be what everyone's been telling me when I go on about stuff going on around here!

Now, if you're clueless about who he is, I'll be nice and tell you a bit about him. :)

Weiwei is an artist, photographer, and curator, best known for designing the Beijing Olympics Bird's Nest Stadium, a collaboration with Swiss starchitects Herzog and DeMeuron. In the art world, he is highly respected, but to the Chinese authorities, he means trouble. Through his artworks, Weiwei has spoken out against human rights abuses in China, criticising symbols of elitism and authority in the CPC.

One of his most controversial artworks, "Dropping the Urn", shows photos of Weiwei smashing a priceless Han Dynasty urn. I'm not sure how you'd intepret it, but when asked,Weiwei said he did this on a whim, 'to show how gravity works'. Whoah. I can't help but wonder how he was like as a kid. His mother must have had a very hard time!

Another famous piece by Weiwei is his installation in the Tate Museum in London, 'Sunflower Seeds'.

At first glance it doesn't look like much - but take a closer look and you might notice that these are not actual seeds; they are hand-painted replicas made of porcelain. Weiwei gathered 1,600 people toto individually hand-makeone hundred million seeds,to speak about the mass-production, 'Made in China' phenomenon taking place today.

While I admire and applaud Weiwei's artistic efforts and wit and for his courage to stand up against the Chinese authorities, I've also heard stuff from architect friends who have met and worked with him who said he's a pretty rude and arrogant fella, and that they're not surprised that he's irked the CPC.

I was inspired last weekend to do a portrait of Weiwei. Initially the idea was to just do a small A4 sized portrait of him, but then I thought I'd bring my materials out to the little lanes of mylongtang, and! do a po rtrait of him in public...what an attention-seeker, huh? But that's what Ai Weiwei is essentially! Oh, and guess what medium I used? No, not paint - that's so BOH-RING...! I collected 100,000/7kgs ofsunflower seeds, and this is what I did:

My curious neighbour came over to check out what I was up to!

...and more curious people gathered around! Eventually, someone said, 'Hey! That's that Beijing artist...Ai Weiwei!' WHEW! At least someone could tell!