Ai Weiwei:
Artwork Analysis
Artistic Influences:
Chinese Calligraphy and Scroll Painting
Mid-Autumn, Wang Xianzhi
Jin Dynasty (265-420CE)
Artistic Influences: Chinese Ceramics
Han Dynasty
(206 BCE-220 CE)
Ceramics
Artistic Influences: Pop Art
Brillo Box (1964)
by Andy Warhol
Mao Tse Tung (1972)
by Andy Warhol
Ai Weiwei in 1988 in front of Andy Warhol’s
Self-Portrait (1966) at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Artistic Influences: Conceptual Art
"It became like a symbolic thing, to be‘an artist.’ After Duchamp,
I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and
attitude than producing some product."
-Ai Weiwei
Fountain (1917)
Marcel Duchamp
Artistic Influences: Installation Art
Untitled (Placebo) (1991),
Félix González-Torres
Ai is influenced by
conceptual installation art
such as this work by CubanAmerican artist Félix
González-Torres
Artistic Influences: Art as Activism
Ai is strongly invested in the notion of art as a means of actively
creating social change. Another artist whose work functions to
create social change is Krzysztof Wodiczko.
Krzysztof Wodiczko’s Homeless Vehicle Project (1987-89), New York
Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (1995)
Video-Ai Weiwei-Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn
Coca-Cola Vase (1994)
Colored Vases (2006)
Remembering (2009)
Earthquake in Sichuan (2008-2010)
Untitled, 2011
Sunflower Seeds (2010)
Video: Ai Weiwei: Sunflower Seeds
The Black Cover Book, 1994
The White Cover Book, 1995
The Grey Cover Book, 1997
Weiwei-isms (2012)
Quotations from Ai Weiwei
“Everything is art, everything is politics.” –Ai Weiwei
Reference to Mao’s Little Red Book
“In the world today all culture, all literature and art belong to definite classes and are geared
to definite political lines. There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands
above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics.”-Mao Zedong