'Streets of Shanghai' by Ai Weiwei, 2023
Exhibition print from the artist's 'Making Sense' show at Design Museum, London.
11.8 x 16 Inches
30 x 40 Centimeters
Archival pigment print on 240gsm smooth white fine art paper.
Open Edition (Sold Out).
Based on Weiwei's original pen + ink on paper.
Plate-signed by the artist bottom right.
New in mylar sleeve with details on reverse.
ABOUT THE ART
Print based on one of Ai Weiwei’s early drawings, late 1970.
Weiwei's drawings show the poetic sensibility of a young artist whose childhood was largely spent in western Xinjiang Province, a remote desert area where his father, an eminent poet and intellectual, had been sent for manual labour and ‘re-education’ during the Cultural Revolution. The drawings – while classical in appearance – are marked by an individualistic world view and artistic experimentation at odds with the officially sanctioned aesthetics of Socialist Realism.
ARTIST BIO
Given his remarkable life and work, Ai Weiwei (b. 1957, Beijing) stands as a unique international figure. He is both one of the most celebrated contemporary artists and one of the world’s most prominent and respected human rights activists. The exhibition draws on many aspects of his career as a visual artist and architect, and is informed by both his own life experience and the plight of displaced people.
In 2016, Ai and his film team traveled to 23 countries and 40+ refugee camps while filming his documentary feature, Human Flow.