Destruction

This week and next, I’ll be guest lecturing in a class called Destruction in Art, at Mount Alison University. In the lead up, I’ll be reposting earlier blog entries that cross over into the subject matter, some with new information and/or images. These will include works by Christian Marclay, VsVsVs, Guy Debord, Jon Sasaki, Lil Picard, Daniel Spoerri, Gábor Altorjay, Ben Vautier, Yoko Ono, The K Foundation, Lee Lozano, Michael Landy, Gustav Metzger, Santiago Sierra, and others. 

Ai Weiwei | Pequi Tree Miniatura

Ai Weiwei

Pequi Tree Miniatura

Porto, Portugal: Serralves Foundation, 2021

36.8 x 16.5 x 16.5 cm.

Edition of 250 signed and numbered copies

In July of 2021, the exhibition Intertwine by Ai Weiwei opened at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves in Porto, Portugal. The show included a thirty-two metre high cast iron sculpture titled Pequi Tree, in Serralves Park (see below). 

The Pequi Tree Miniature is a lavishly packaged miniature of the work, produced at a 1/100 scale, out of tin. The work is produced in an edition of 250 copies, with the artist's signature incised on the underside. 

Ai Weiwei: Collector's Edition

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei: Collector's Edition 

Berlin, Germany: Taschen, 2015

724 pp., 45 x 34 x 7.5 cm. (book), 48 x 76 x 18.5 cm. (marble plinth)

Edition of 100 [+ 20 AP] signed and numbered copies

The deluxe edition of the Taschen monograph comprises the original cloth-bound book wrapped in a Habotai silk scarf, sitting on a Chinese marble book-rest. 

Made in close collaboration with the artist, the book (which is also available in an unsigned, trade edition of 1000 copies) features paper cut chapter openers designed by Ai Weiwei, previously unseen images from his archive, and statements on his work from exclusive interviews.

The $4,500 US deluxe edition has already sold out and the work is currently being offered in auction from Christies, with an estimate of between four and six thousand pounds. 

This week on Tumblr: Cast Hands and Raised Fingers

Ai Weiwei | Artist's Hand

Ai Weiwei
Artist's Hand
New York City, USA: Public Art Fund, 2017
10 x 10 x 13 cm.
Edition of 1000 signed copies

These cast urethane resin with electroplated rhodium hands were produced in an edition of 1000 signed (incised) copies, to raise funds for the 2017/2018 Ai Weiwei exhibition Good Fences Make Good Neighbors. The were co-published by eBay for Charity, and made available exclusively through Ebay, with 100% of the proceeds going towards the exhibition.

They went on sale in October of last year for $675 US and have sold at auction subsequently for almost ten times that amount, a mere ten months later.

The work recalls Ai Weiwei's Study of Perspective series, in which the artist photographed himself "giving the finger" or "flipping the bird" to world monuments and significant landmarks.

Ai Weiwei | Swatter

Ai Weiwei
Swatter
Zurich, Switzerland: Parkett Editions, 2007.
50 x 7 x 0.5 cm
Edition of 55, signed and numbered copies.

The edition for Parkett 81 is a common household flyswatter, cast in shiny gilt brass to imitate gold, issued in a box with a signed certificate of authenticity. Long unavailable from the publisher, the edition's current value is somewhere between $10 000 and $12 000, US.