Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei opens during a free public opening on June 3 at The Warhol!
Read a preview of the exhibition.
Renowned 'watchdog' artist Ai Weiwei's works coming to Pittsburgh
Kurt Shaw, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Since the 1980s, Chinese contemporary art has made a huge impact on the international scene and continues to be one of the art world's major areas of focus.
With countless new museums, galleries and talents coming to the fore, China has a great number of influential art-world players. But one artist in particular tops this list, and that's Ai Weiwei (his name is pronounced eye way-way).
Pittsburghers will get two chances to explore the art of this world-renowned dissident artist.
Opening May 28 in the Carnegie Museum of Art's Hall of Architecture, Ai's iconic “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads” gives scale to this art-world giant.
On the weekend of June 4, the exhibit “Andy Warhol/Ai Weiwei” opens at the Andy Warhol Museum with a visit by the artist.
Ai Weiwei's first major public-sculpture project, “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads” comprises a dozen 10-foot-tall bronze figures, representing the traditional Chinese zodiac. Each weighs about 2,000 pounds, making for an ominous site among the plaster casts of the past.
“In terms of impact, I can certainly say that Ai Weiwei is the most important artist working today,” says Eric Shiner, director of the Andy Warhol Museum. “He is, in so many ways, acting as a watchdog. Not only in our rarefied world of contemporary art, but much more importantly, the world at large. He is taking on issues that are political, that are timely to all of us, and critically important. For example, the refugee crisis in Greece, and by extension, the rest of Europe, is something that he's paying deep attention to and really calling attention to various political systems, various atrocities that are happening to humanity that we might not otherwise pay attention to.”
Shiner says the exhibit at his museum shows a “different view of each artist.”
“Warhol was much more subvert in his political actions and his mechanizations of change, whereas Weiwei is incredibly overt,” Shiner says. “The premise of this exhibition, at the end of the day, is how these two artists, probably more than anyone, changed and are changing the very fabric of the societies within which they work.”
