Ai Weiwei (b. 1957) is the most significant artist-activist of the twenty-first century — a Chinese artist and architect whose practice has engaged directly with political oppression, human rights abuses, and the experience of displacement with a moral courage and artistic intelligence that has made him one of the most discussed cultural figures in the world.
Born in Beijing, the son of the celebrated poet Ai Qing, he spent his childhood in political exile with his family during the Cultural Revolution. He studied at the Beijing Film Academy before moving to New York in 1981, where he spent a decade absorbing the work of Duchamp, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol and developing the conceptual approach that would define his mature practice. On returning to China in 1993 he became one of the driving forces of the Chinese contemporary art scene while simultaneously building his profile as an outspoken critic of the Chinese government.
His iconic works address the relationship between tradition and destruction, between cultural heritage and political power. Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995) — three photographs documenting the deliberate smashing of a two-thousand-year-old artefact — is one of the most provocative and debated gestures in contemporary art. Sunflower Seeds (2010) — one hundred million hand-painted porcelain seeds filling the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, made by 1,600 artisans in Jingdezhen — is among the most technically and conceptually ambitious installations of the century.
Detained by the Chinese government for 81 days in 2011 without charge, he has used his international platform since to advocate consistently for refugees, political prisoners, and the victims of institutional violence. His Odyssey print — available through Creed Gallery — engages directly with the refugee crisis, one of his most sustained and morally serious ongoing subjects. Available through Creed Gallery, Ascot, for collectors across Berkshire, Surrey, and London.
