When we think of a well-rounded person, we should be thinking of Ai Weiwei.He is well known for being a human rights activist and an artist. He has accomplished many things during his lifetime.To begin with, Ai Weiwei was born on August 28, 1957 in Beijing, China. Ai attended the Beijing Film Academy and the Parsons School of Design in New York. He has received honorary doctorates from: The Faculty of Politics and Social Science; University of Ghent, Belgium; and many more awards. Ai Weiwei had many key influences that have impacted his work. Some of those influences was: Dada (the art movement); Marcel Duchamp (artist); Jaspers John(a painter); Andy Warhol (artist), politics, and China/Chinese history.. All of those key influences have shown…show more content… He almost always displays his work in a political and poetic manner, often making use of recognizable and historic Chinese artwork. For his sculptures, “...he uses reclaimed materials-ancient pottery or wood from destroyed temples”,according to the Art 21 website. The writer of Ai Weiwei’s short biography on the website Art 21 states that, “He also employs sarcasm, juxtaposition, and repetition to reinvigorate the potency and symbolism of traditional images and to reframe the familiar with minimal means.” Meaning, he uses these art terms to give an energy/strength into the potency(the power to affect someone’s mind or body) and symbols of images, to express his…show more content… The art pieced done in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. The hall is filled with numerous layers of the sunflower seeds.It symbolizes many things including the idea that sunflower seeds are a common everyday snack in China. Also, it can symbolize the sun god in a polytheistic Chinese religion manner.
Furthermore, Ai Weiwei has two assistants that have accepted to be interviewed in the Art 21 video. The assistants interviewed were E-Shyh Wong and Inserk Yang. Conferring to Inserk,” What’s important to Weiwei is space and how he can use it. Weiwei shows a lot of craftsmanship. He works directly with his workers.People and citizens come to us to see what they can do to help free Weiwei.”
In addition to that, Weiwei’s work was held to a stop when he was held in captivity. Ai has been held under the custody of the Chinese government from April 3, 2011 to June 22, 2011. The reason for that was because he was a human rights activist and the government saw him as a threat. During that time, his every move was being watched by the two Chinese guards/cops. According to Ai Weiwei, there wasn’t many things to do and he couldn’t ask any question to the cops and anyone. Ai Weiwei said,” The cops were like prisoners themselves. They were taken away from their village and were secretly brought to the prison cell. They are then to be released in a