Commemorating the beginning of the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Ox, I would like to celebrate one of my most important artistic influences, Ai Wei Wei. Not only is @aiww one of the most brilliant and relevant artists of our time, he is a legendary activist. I have been working with the Zodiac in many forms for over 30 years and Ai seems to be a kindred spirit in his desire to depict the Zodiac in varied forms. In May 2018 Wei Wei’s Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads came to Denver. He recreates the famous twelve bronze animal heads that once adorned the Zodiac Fountain in Yuan Ming Yuan, the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Cast around 1750, the original heads were looted by Anglo-French troops who destroyed the Palace in 1860 during the Second Opium War. Seen in the first picture is the Ox. In December 2018 I visited Zodiac, an exhibit at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in Los Angeles. The center of the space was filled with 5,929 wooden stools from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and the Republican period, gathered from villages across northern China. Complementing the stools are the Zodiac works composed from thousands of plastic LEGO bricks. The image on the left is the Ox. During this strange year of isolation and introspection I find myself writing random poetry. In honor of the Year of the Ox here is one entitled ROX: I walk the everyday A glimmer of spirit captures A large white ox Taurean magic Shining Blinded I am By ancient illumination What is your message Recovery Fertility Balance I look again A large grey rock Buried in Sanitas bush . . . #aiweiwei #zodiac #circleofanimals #denverart #jeffreydeitchgallery #losangelesart #ROX #yearoftheox #chinesenewyear #carinreichstudio (at Denver's Civic Center Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLNaNE_FYUW/?igshid=1gcrt0oyyd6q9
