Ai Wei Wei_Sunflower Seed

Retrieved June 12, 2011 from : http://www.tempi.it/sites/default/files/medium_110409-150945_To090411est_963.jpg

Ai Wei Wei is a well-known Chinese artist and activist, recently more because of his arrest as a part of the Chinese government’s crackdown. He is active in architecture, photography, film, curating, social and cultural criticism.

Retrieved June 12, 2011 from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_Weiwei
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I do not know this artist until I was asked to find out who is this artist in my History of Art & Design lecture class. I don't even know the story of Ai Wei Wei's arrest.

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Retrieved June 12, 2011 from : http://arrestedmotion.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/img_2001.jpg

One prominent piece of his work was the Sunflower Seeds, an installations at the Tate Modern art gallery.

A sea of seemingly identical sunflower seeds, handcrafted by nearly 2,000 workers over a period of 2 years, it’s not just the scale of the piece that is impressive but its socio-political and historical scope that baffles. Each seed, each process and each hand that has gone to making these seeds has a meaning behind it and no detail has been left to chance. Each one was handcrafted by an artisan in one of the small-scale workshop, carefully selected by Wei Wei.

When I saw the articles about this artwork, I was surprised that the visitors are encouraged to touch, walk on, and interact with the seeds. This is because we are usually not allowed to touch the artworks in gallery. The use of seed in artwork has inspired me to be more creative in my artwork. I have to explore more to have more new, creative ideas.

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