No less that THREE galleries have Ai Wei Wei shows in LA right now, and you can spend an afternoon touring the latest art from one of the world’s best known artists.
First up should be at The Marciano Art Foundation, where tickets need to be reserved, and the demand is high. The show is worth waiting in line for because the visuals are spectacular and the dissident artist’s message is focused on human rights. Sunflower seeds made of porcelain fill half of the museum’s largest space, and the other half is taken up with broken Chinese pottery. Ai Wei Wei focuses on the role of the individual in society and the vast migration going on across the planet. This was the topic of Human Flow, a film Ai Wei Wei made recently – learn more about that here. *Through March 2019
The second show to see is at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in Hollywood, and also considers the role of the individual in society; this time, by depicting the humblest element of life in China – the three-legged stool. Also, in this gallery are gigantic “paintings” made with LEGO. Kids will certainly appreciate them, and ask them to consider what the wallpaper on the back wall is about (it’s all surveillance cameras and handcuffs, tricked out to look like a Versace pattern). And yes, all those LEGOs are normal colors – they weren’t made for the artists, but it’s a nice study in how you can put vivid colors next to one another to create a dramatic result.
The final stop will be the new UTA Space in Beverly Hills, which contains wallpaper and decorative urns depicting the movement of peoples around the globe, and this show-stopper combination of a cellphone and a handcuff. Powerful, potent stuff.
