But China’s most renowned dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who has faced detention and strict surveillance for his more confrontational work, praises the approach of his friend and neighbour in Caochangdi, an avant-garde artists’ community on the outskirts of the capital.
He’s art “always has a mix of play, personal history, political message and poetic romance”, said Ai.
“Everything that is happening in China today, with development, old structures and Communist doctrines, are all stuck together,” Ai continued.
He’s work “is trying to pull life out of the ruins”.
His performances are not always easy to carry out, and he has run into trouble with officialdom — although in the US, rather than in China.
In 2005 police thwarted his attempt to stand naked on a rock atop Niagara Falls for 24 hours.
Two years later officers in New York stopped him as he organised a game of mahjong — again naked — using bricks in place of the usual domino-sized tiles.
Several hospitals refused to carry out the rib removal without a medical justification, until he found a willing doctor in his home province of Yunnan, in the southwest.
“This has been my wish for many years,” He recalled telling surgeons. “If you can help me realise it, then you’re actually helping me, not harming me.”
About The Author
