Ai Weiwei

This Is the first comprehensive monograph on Ai Weiwei (b. 1957), a key figure in China’s burgeoning art scene. Ai often works with ancient materials – beams from destroyed temples, Han Dynasty urns – to create ingenious sculptures that break new artistic ground while commenting on the rapid transformation of contemporary China. Ai’s work is consistently innovative and unmistakably original, ranging from sculptures to photographs to his numerous architectural commissions, and it recalls the work of his artistic forebears: Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, and Andy Warhol. Ai is a towering figure whose influence can be seen in the multiplicity of his roles: not just an artist, designer, and architect, but also curator, publisher, blogger, and cultural compass for an entire generation of Beijing artists.