Ai Weiwei — Max Hetzler Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: September 3 → October 8, 2016

A key figure in the Chinese independent art scene, Ai Weiwei conceives sculptures and installations in addition to being known as a photographer, architect and curator. The son of renowned poet Ai Qing who was exiled for 20 years in a labour camp, Ai Weiwei is a keen observer of today’s society. His outputs have become inextricably tied to his daring actions promoting justice and Human Rights.

As a fine connoisseur of Chinese art and antiques which he has been collecting for decades, Ai Weiwei grounds part of his work on the recognition of Chinese culture that had been banned during the Cultural Revolution. He favours the use of traditional materials such as porcelain, jade, marble or precious wood, also resorting to ancient objects to divert them from their common use. The artworks displayed in this exhibition including Tree Trunk, which is cast in iron, attests to the plenitude of techniques used by this protean artist.

—————

_Ai Weiwei (1957, Beijing, China) lives and works in Berlin. He studied at Beijing Film Academy and attended the Parsons School of Design after moving to New York in 1981. Major solo exhibitions were held at Helsinki Art Museum (2015), Royal Academy (2015), Alcatraz Prison, San Francisco (2014), Martin Gropius Bau (2014), Indianapolis Museum of Art (2013), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. (2012), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan (2011), Tate Modern, London (2010) and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2009). He also took part to Andy Warhol — Ai Weiwei_, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2015). Architectural collaborations include the 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium with Herzog & de Meuron. He was awarded numerous honours, among which the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation (2012) and was made Honorary Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2011).