Heather James Senior Curator Chip Tom lectures about Ai Weiwei Circle of Animals – Zodiac Heads: Gold
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AI WEIWEI (b. 1957)
Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold2010 bronze with gold patina
Provenance
Private Collection, CaliforniaThe stands are: 32 H x 19-3/4 W x 19-3/4 D in.
Rat: 27 7/8 x 12 7/8 x 20 7/8 in.
Ox: 29 1/8 x 20 1/8 x 16 7/8 in.
Tiger: 25 7/8 x 14 7/8 x 16 7/8 in.
Rabbit: 27 7/8 x 9 7/8 x 18 7/8 in.
Dragon: 35 7/8 x 18 1/8 x 25 7/8 in.
Snake: 27 7/8 x 14 1/8 x 6 3/4 in.
Horse: 29 1/8 x 12 1/4 x 22 in.
Ram: 25 1/4 x 20 7/8 x 16 1/8 in.
Monkey: 27 1/8 x 12 7/8 x 14 7/8 in.
Rooster: 24 x 9 x 16 7/8 in.
Dog: 25 1/4 x 14 7/8 x 18 7/8 in.
Boar: 27 1/8 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 in.
World-renowned Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei is a sculptor, installation artist, architectural designer, curator, and social and cultural critic who has been exhibiting his work internationally since the late 1990s. His artistic practice is inextricably linked with cultural engagement and willingly crosses barriers between different media—cultural, artistic, and social. It was perhaps his detention from 2011 until August 2015 by the Chinese government that brought his views to the greatest audience. Ai Weiwei now lives in Germany and continues to create new works and uses his significant international profile to promote artistic and personal freedom.
These twelve sculptures depict the animals associated with the traditional Chinese zodiac. Ai Weiwei’s cycle references a European rendering of the zodiac animals designed by the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione. The original sculptures were built in the eighteenth century for an elaborate water-clock fountain at the Yuanming Yuan (Old Summer Palace), which was ransacked in 1860. By recreating the lost and displaced statues, Ai Weiwei engages issues of looting, repatriation, and cultural heritage while expanding upon ongoing themes in his work concerning the “fake” and “copy” in relation to the original.
Ai Weiwei now works in Berlin, Germany.
Rat: 27 7/8 x 12 7/8 x 20 7/8 in.
Ox: 29 1/8 x 20 1/8 x 16 7/8 in.
Tiger: 25 7/8 x 14 7/8 x 16 7/8 in.
Rabbit: 27 7/8 x 9 7/8 x 18 7/8 in.
Dragon: 35 7/8 x 18 1/8 x 25 7/8 in.
Snake: 27 7/8 x 14 1/8 x 6 3/4 in.
Horse: 29 1/8 x 12 1/4 x 22 in.
Ram: 25 1/4 x 20 7/8 x 16 1/8 in.
Monkey: 27 1/8 x 12 7/8 x 14 7/8 in.
Rooster: 24 x 9 x 16 7/8 in.
Dog: 25 1/4 x 14 7/8 x 18 7/8 in.
Boar: 27 1/8 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 in.
World-renowned Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei is a sculptor, installation artist, architectural designer, curator, and social and cultural critic who has been exhibiting his work internationally since the late 1990s. His artistic practice is inextricably linked with cultural engagement and willingly crosses barriers between different media—cultural, artistic, and social. It was perhaps his detention from 2011 until August 2015 by the Chinese government that brought his views to the greatest audience. Ai Weiwei now lives in Germany and continues to create new works and uses his significant international profile to promote artistic and personal freedom.
These twelve sculptures depict the animals associated with the traditional Chinese zodiac. Ai Weiwei’s cycle references a European rendering of the zodiac animals designed by the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione. The original sculptures were built in the eighteenth century for an elaborate water-clock fountain at the Yuanming Yuan (Old Summer Palace), which was ransacked in 1860. By recreating the lost and displaced statues, Ai Weiwei engages issues of looting, repatriation, and cultural heritage while expanding upon ongoing themes in his work concerning the “fake” and “copy” in relation to the original.
Ai Weiwei now works in Berlin, Germany.
