Ai Weiwei is one of the most powerful artists in the world. Unlike other artists, his works were expressed both politically and artistically. He was arrested and harassed by the Chinese Communist government because of his bold responses to the government. His works was unique than any artist you will see. His art has a purpose of meaning; it has its own mind. Ai Weiwei believes that if you don’t speak up, nothing will change. The meaning of his artworks has various meanings. However, his central message conveys about the daily diatribes against local corruption and government abuses of China. Ai Weiwei was not a normal artist who painted pictures and sell them in galleries and auctions. His art was different than others. One of his artworks are the one-hundred sunflower seeds, all made from porcelain, each one painted by hand, filling the giant Turbine Hall at London's Tate Modern Museum. You may be thinking, is that art? Ai Weiwei’s artworks are unique in everyone’s eyes. It gives different viewpoints of what is around us that we aren’t aware of. His artworks are insightful and deep. While Ai Weiwei expresses his mind on local corruption and government abuses, the government began to observe Ai Weiwei and his actions. Ai Weiwei’s blogs can be provocative such as flicking …show more content…
By doing this, his voice can be heard that only from China, but around the world. He takes photographs of his daily lives and posts it online for other people to see. It is not ordinary pictures, but sometimes provocative such as the middle finger. Flicking the middle finger was Ai Weiwei’s thing. It captures his push for free expression and his relentless questioning of authority. China is full of corruption and abuses. They dehumanize them. No one has rights. Some are limited. Instead of human beings, they are considered as objects. Ai Weiwei is like a cloud blocking the Chinese
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
Vincent Van Gogh is one of the world’s greatest and most well-known artists, but when he was alive he considered himself to be a complete failure. It was not until after he died that Van Gogh’s paintings received the recognition they deserved. Today he is thought to be the second best Dutch artist, after Rembrandt. Born in 1853, he was one of the biggest artistic influences of the 19th century. Vincent Van Gogh created a new era of art, he learned to use art to escape his mental illness, and he still continues to inspire artists over 100 years later.
The lenses of capitalism and communism influence how Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei’s art are seen as political critiques. The celebrity persona of Andy Warhol differs greatly from that of Ai Weiwei, however “Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei share an Iconoclastic spirit” (Delaney, M, 2016 p.27). More so their artistic practices both stem from Marcel Duchamp’s, ‘ready-mades’. This essay will consider the extents to which both artists’ can be considered activists. If there were a binary in place to understand the political effects and various ways activism is preformed, Weiwei and Warhol would undoubtedly be on opposite sides of the spectrum. Ai Weiwei would take on the overtly active and outspoken side, while Warhol’s passivity and projected indifference
His work included many cultural motifs such as flowers, dragons and landscapes. His china china series, a set of sculpted busts that had relief carvings of his cultural heritage, resembled traditional Chinese tattoos. His art isn’t considered pop culture but the series china china reminds me of art made by Dr. Lakara a Mexican artist. Both artists utilize their cultures in their art work Ah Xian use of traditional stylized Chinese landscapes carved into the porcelain bust is an example of how he uses his cultural identity in his work. He also uses the relief carvings similarity to tattoos as symbol of how permanent ones cultural identity is.
Despite the criticism, Basquiat was known for his unique and purposely artwork that will never be forgotten. All the artists during that time all portrayed similar ideas that were introverted abstract art. Artist started portraying common objects in an abstract expressionism that was aggressive and emotional. During this era, Basquiat and other similar artists created pieces that were rich in detail that demonstrated different aspects of life. During this art movement, many people considered it controversial and didn’t find the artwork to be intriguing.
By juxtaposing the implications of this sale with Xiao Hong’s exaggerated innocence, Yuan appeals to his audience’s emotions, stoking anger toward social values that could enable such barbaric exploitation of the poor. Yuan employs a similar juxtaposition later in Street Angel, when Wang visits a lawyer’s office in a skyscraper – an environment so divorced from his day-to-day realities that he remarks, “This is truly heaven.” Wang soon learns otherwise, when the lawyer rebuffs his nave plea for assistance by coldly reciting his exorbitant fees. The lawyer’s emotionless greed – a callousness that represents capitalism at its worst – contrasts strikingly with Wang’s nave purity, a quality betrayed by his awestruck expression while inside the skyscraper. Again, this juxtaposition encourages the film’s audience to sympathize with a proletarian victim and condemn the social values that enable his oppression.
There are many different ways of looking at and understanding the large and multi faceted country of China. From looking at things like its history, economy, politics, philosophies, and other aspects of the Chinese people, it is difficult to really describe China as one specific thing. Instead of there being one true face of China, it seems there are a variety of different people and faces to represent this diverse country. In some cases, what might be representative of one group of people in China, is completely different for another. Take for example the difference between people that live in rural areas, and people that are living in the city. As seen in the documentary, Young and Restless in China, the poor people in rural areas live very
Much of Ai Weiwei’s activism and artwork has been influenced by his experiences growing up. Ai Weiwei lived through a tumultuous time in Chinese history, with the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the Opening Up of China by Deng Xiaoping. Ai Weiwei’s father, Ai Qing was a famous poet during the Cultural Revolution. However, he was targeted in the Anti-Rightist campaig...
The Cultural Revolution in China was led by Mao Zedong, due to this Liang and many others faced overwhelming obstacles in many aspects of their life such as work, family and everyday encounters, if affected everyone’s families life and education, Liang lets us experience his everyday struggles during this era, where the government determined almost every aspect of life. The beginning of the book starts out with Liang’s typical life, which seems normal, he has a family which consists of three children, two older sisters and him the youngest, his two sister’s reside in Changsha 1. his father has an everyday occupation working as a journalist at a local newspaper. Things start to take a turn early in life for Liang Heng, his family politics were always questioned, the mistake made by one of his family members would impact his entire family and it would be something they would have to suffer through, it was impossible for them to live down such a sin.... ...
By juxtaposing both the English and Mandarin language, Wong is effectively showcasing and questioning the institutional dominance the English language may possesses over both worldwide linguistics as well as individual’s freedom of expression; Stating we may need to break free from the constraining borders English may pose on an individual, and instead write or speak in any way we wish in hopes of effectively getting our point across. The narrator wants herself and others to break free from the strict dominant borders, empowering others to live a life filled with full freedom of expression regardless of one’s style of writing or minority
The Chinese have repeatedly tortured, imprisoned, and murdered Tibetans all for what they claim is national unity. While the oppression of the Tibetan people began in the 1950’s with the invasion of China, it continues just as strongly today. From religious oppression and unfair trials to the torture of nuns and monks, the Chinese abuse even the most reverent aspects of Tibetan culture. Political prisoners, whether they are monks, nuns or lay people, are tortured with utter disregard for human rights. Chinese laws have also been established to eradicate the Tibetan people entirely. Women often must endure forced abortions and sterilization due to Chinese birth policies. Through all of these crimes against humanity, China repeatedly commits acts of genocide as established by the United Nations.
Art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Jackson Pollock does an amazing job creating art. Pollock’s works are not as big as some of the other artists like Monet’s paintings but his works are still large enough to engulf the viewer.
In The Cowshed, Ji Xianlin provides a recollection of the Cultural Revolution that is both similar and dissimilar to other memoirs. As a professor at Peking University, Ji Xianlin was one of many intellectuals and academics that were targeted by the Red Guards. His description of his experiences of struggle sessions or reform through labor in The Cowshed was not unlike those faced by his peers. Instead of presenting his experiences in anger, Ji Xianlin presents his experience of the Cultural Revolution from the perspective of someone who deserved punishment, not a victim. Moreover, despite everything he experienced, Ji Xianlin remained a loyal supporter of the Communist Party.
China today – powerful and ever-growing – wasn’t always like this. One major event in history around the mid 1800s that we all seem to have forgotten was the Opium Wars. What really caused the opium war was when China wanted to halt all trade in opium with the British. The geography of China is something like a fence. This isolation made the people of China feel like their country was prestigious and secluded from the rest of the world.
Chinese art went through many different stages starting from the year 1842. But the massacre of Tiananmen Square in the year 1989 was a turning point in the political life of China and in the country's art. Until the year 1992 art in China was underground, but it kept expanding. As a result of that, some Chinese artists started to do art works that rebel against their government and express their feelings towards China. One of these artists is the famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei who expressed in each piece of art he did, his feelings that China should let its people break away from the rotten traditional, in order to express their thoughts freely.