Even though I don’t normally feature mainstream exhibitions I thought you might like to see these pictures, taken back at the very beginning of the Ai Weiwei show at the Royal Academy which ends at the weekend.
Unusually for most exhibitions, image-taking was actively encouraged; I only found out at the end so did a quick reverse tour. Many exhibits including the massive and powerful installation Straight have been extensively featured so I’ve focused on some of the other pieces such as Souvenir from Shanghai, a poignant construction of architectural features and rubble retrieved from the artist’s home and studio demolished by the state only a few years after they had encouraged him to build it.
Ai Weiwei is known for using highly skilled craftspeople to create his work as seen in the intricate wood carving and marquetry of two of his cubic metre pieces below. The first one is inspired by an ebony box owned by his father.
This one with a design of cubed marquetry opens up to reveal irregular shelves only glimpsed from the outside and then a cylindrical space at the core, like a traditional treasure box.
A tonne of tea…
and this exquisite transparent cube with just one rod inside.
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