An Artwork of Ai Weiwei Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

An Artwork of Ai Weiwei - Essay Example I have observed that art pieces of Ai Weiwei seem to be confusing many viewers. Ai Weiwei artistic are challenging because the artist uses nearly every object to represent unique features. Evidently, a number of his work tends to leave the viewers grappling to identify the meaning. For example, in one of his art piece, he has used an ordinary bicycle to produce a sterling art piece. Attempts towards interpreting the meaning of this piece often leaves the viewer thinking about the meaning of the ordinary piece of object used in artwork. As noted by a number of art critics, the use of ordinary objects to produce unique art pieces sometimes creates difficulty in interpretation (Laar and Diepeveen 94). Largely, placing the artwork in any context tends to be very difficult. I believe that this situation is evident with most art pieces of Ai Weiwei. The common nagging question that people find difficult is what the art piece represents when the meaning of the ordinary object has changed. W hile the viewers often struggle to find the meaning of art pieces, many fail to think in terms of placing the artwork in a given context. Laar and Diepeveen have observed that some artwork that the audiences regard as difficult tends to incline towards certain cultures (112). Arguably, interpreting art pieces designed to address a concern in the western countries might not have the same meaning in the Asian countries. Thus, in interpreting artwork, the viewer needs to understand the culture of the people where the artwork has emanated from. For instance, Ai Weiwei art pieces often confuse many viewers because they seem to address aspects of the Asian culture as well as western cultures. Arguably, a mixture of cultural aspects from different backgrounds may be difficult to interpret. First, by putting the artwork in a different cultural background, the viewer shall have lost the real meaning. Secondly, failure to recognize the background of the artwork will also make the interpretati on difficult. In my view, interpreting the art pieces of Ai Weiwei requires understanding the context of his work. The difficulty in interpretation often arises when the situation that led to the creation of the artwork is unclear. In such cases, the viewer needs to know circumstances that surround the creation of the artwork. I think the vagueness in the presentation is the failure of the viewer to identify the situations or circumstances that artists want to display. For example, artistic works which address political issues may confuse a viewer who does not place the work in the right political situation. I have realized that Ai Weiwei’s work which addresses the sorry state of the society tends to create controversy in interpretation. For example, Ai Weiwei’s painting, â€Å"Ai Weiwei is missing in Taipei† illustrates stools clamped together. The painting may be disturbing to interpret because it tends to project varied meaning. While in Ai’s view the painting illustrates his absence during the Taipei event, a viewer who does not have the right information might not think in that line.