what a bad-ass: Ai Weiwei

An artist with superb craftsmanship, timing and most of all for me, a witty and seemingly constant sense of humor, Ai Weiwei is the biggest bad-ass artist working today. 

detail of Ai Weiwei sculpture installation

It's not just that he critically examines his Chinese government; he critically examines all government and demands accountability. It's his persistent clear voice that cannot be denied. And ultimately, thanks to his poetic images and objects that quietly and relentlessly declare better of humanity, he'll always have the last word. 

Detail of Ai Weiwei installation, Straight, commemorating school children

One Ai Weiwei sculpture is displayed in front of the Sol Lewitt mural on the main wall of museum first floor, making it delightfully easy to consider relationships of minimalism, light and form between the two works.

Ai Weiwei sculpture in front of Sol Lewitt mural

Walk around the works spanning more than 20 years of Ai Weiwei's "According to What?" exhibition and let his insight make you shake your head, nod your head and giggle a few times. 

I did. 

Near that mural is a separate gallery space loaded with thousands of photographs rotating on multiple screens. Be sure to spend a few minutes in there and see some of the ongoing themes in Ai Weiwei's work.

My favorite is the only piece he made when he lived in New York in 1988. It's the most modest in scale but so simple and clever of a sculpture that you have to appreciate it. When you go, look for it and let me know what you think of it.

And let me know if you think he's bad-ass, too. Or if you don't, what artist would you name as a bigger bad-ass?

On view at the Indianapolis Museum of Art through July 21, 2013 (click here to go to IMA website).

Click here for more info and images of the exhibition. Be sure to see the list of events associated with the show, too.

me at the entrance of the IMA

glorious 39

Friday Flick:

First of all, the film has Bill Nighy in it. We are fans in our household, so he's enough for us.  The drama has a strong cast overall, led by Romola Garai's passionate performance, but all helping to illustrate the emotionally (and politically) contrasting time for the youthful main characters just before WWII in England. The camera work is lush and gently moves the suspenseful story along through a rich English landscape and into grand vacant interiors.  It's been twenty years since I've been in that landscape, and I found myself wanting to strap on some Wellies and walk through the screen right into it.  While a nostalgic depiction of the setting, the film treats wartime corruption with scrutiny and critique. 

The story surrounds a female lead who's personal discovery takes a dark turn into a conspiracy theory of the English upper class's conspiring efforts with Hitler to buy a version of peace for themselves.  Ultimately the film could have been smarter, I imagine with the cast, and faster like modern thrillers as critics have said rather than the slower, naive old-school unfolding that it is. In the end though, I think it is well done and the departure from common patriotic nostalgia into the shushed decomposition of wartime is worth exploring.

 

Sixty Six

friday flick:

A British comedy by Paul Weiland based on his own life story, Sixty Six is a solid movie. One of the best I've seen in a while.  12-year-old Bernie struggles with coming of age and feeling forgotten by his family in 1966 U.K. when the big event of his childhood is overshadowed by England's shot at the World Cup.  Helena Bonham Carter, and Eddie Marsan play the parents to newcomer Gregg Sulkin. Released in 2006.