4 Ai Weiwei Coca Cola Vase 2011 Neolithic vase, paint 12 5/8 x 10 3/4 x 10 3/4 in. (32.1 x 27.3 x 27.3 cm) Signed and dated "Ai Weiwei 2011" on the underside. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Provenance Private Collection, Europe, acquired directly from the artist Catalogue Essay "It's about communicating. It's about how we use the language which can be part of our history or part of anther history, and how we transform it into today's language." Ai Weiwei 2009 A once historical and treasured relic is here branded with the universally recognized red trademark of a commercial titan: Coca Cola. The aged surface of the urn, incised with historical import, is smeared and vandalized by the bright, viscous slogan as it wraps itself around the element. That tattoo of commodity strips the vestige of its previous identity, one of history and culture, and is re-purposed as a symbol of modernity, boldness, and defiance. Some even say disobedience. It is precisely through this rebellion that Ai Weiwei has emerged as one of the most important artists of the last century. Ai Weiwei was born in Beijing in 1957 as the son of one of modern China’s most renowned poets. In 1979, the artist became a member of Xingxing, the first avant-garde group in China after the revolution. Ever since, his work has continued to strike controversy: his oeuvre strives to examine the relationships between art, society and the individual whilst remaining faithful to the cultural history, tradition and politics from which they came. His works – photographic, painterly, and sculptural – confront issues of identity through the exploration of craftsmanship and the deconstruction of social and popular influence. These concerns are particularly pertinent to contemporary China and specifically relevant in the notable loss of tradition and historical culture due to the rapidity of modernization and the adoption of modern global economy and life-style. Weiwei questions this dissolution in his work in the examination of mass production, market value and brand globalization—such as that of soft-drink mega company, Coca Cola. In Ai Weiwei’s Coca Cola Vase, executed in 2011, the artist presents an antique Chinese pot bedecked with the famed crimson script “Coca Cola” across the surface of the ancient element. Urns of this century are to be treasured for their anthropological importance, revered and left untouched in case of damage. Yet, in this body of work, the artist reallocates their purpose: removing their conventional and historical importance and replacing it under a different system of valuation and appreciation. The artist, in the use of ancient objects, has added a further dimension to the concept of the “readymade”. The method differs from the strategy famously used by artists such as Duchamp, where the object is devoid of cultural or metaphorical gravitas until projected in an art context. In this case, the modified objects are in fact artefacts, existing in cultural significance and importance even without the artist’s creative modifications. The alterations work instead to amalgamate past and contemporary: injecting a historically valuable object with contemporary implication and allusion. The works have caused much controversy in the contradicting definitions of this process, as either re-instilling or replacing intrinsic value. The substitution of one value for another occurs in the defacing of the urn with a contemporary slogan; yet the original object still exists beneath the imposed image, underlying it with an established worth and ancient importance. However, this re-evaluation of the work also lends it a contemporary importance, presenting itself as a statement object, pertinent in the modern world. "[Ai Weiwei's] gestural practice of defacing and destroying these ancient objects to transform them into works of contemporary art, provide the illusion of clarity alongside the persistent spectre of ambiguity. What appears at first like the sublimation of an ancient object's financial value and cultural worth into a different yet parallel carrier of updated value and worth also serves as a satire of the ruling regime's approach to its patrimony, a
4 Ai Weiwei Coca Cola Vase 2011 Neolithic vase, paint 12 5/8 x 10 3/4 x 10 3/4 in. (32.1 x 27.3 x 27.3 cm) Signed and dated "Ai Weiwei 2011" on the underside. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
Provenance Private Collection, Europe, acquired directly from the artist Catalogue Essay "It's about communicating. It's about how we use the language which can be part of our history or part of anther history, and how we transform it into today's language." Ai Weiwei 2009 A once historical and treasured relic is here branded with the universally recognized red trademark of a commercial titan: Coca Cola. The aged surface of the urn, incised with historical import, is smeared and vandalized by the bright, viscous slogan as it wraps itself around the element. That tattoo of commodity strips the vestige of its previous identity, one of history and culture, and is re-purposed as a symbol of modernity, boldness, and defiance. Some even say disobedience. It is precisely through this rebellion that Ai Weiwei has emerged as one of the most important artists of the last century. Ai Weiwei was born in Beijing in 1957 as the son of one of modern China’s most renowned poets. In 1979, the artist became a member of Xingxing, the first avant-garde group in China after the revolution. Ever since, his work has continued to strike controversy: his oeuvre strives to examine the relationships between art, society and the individual whilst remaining faithful to the cultural history, tradition and politics from which they came. His works – photographic, painterly, and sculptural – confront issues of identity through the exploration of craftsmanship and the deconstruction of social and popular influence. These concerns are particularly pertinent to contemporary China and specifically relevant in the notable loss of tradition and historical culture due to the rapidity of modernization and the adoption of modern global economy and life-style. Weiwei questions this dissolution in his work in the examination of mass production, market value and brand globalization—such as that of soft-drink mega company, Coca Cola. In Ai Weiwei’s Coca Cola Vase, executed in 2011, the artist presents an antique Chinese pot bedecked with the famed crimson script “Coca Cola” across the surface of the ancient element. Urns of this century are to be treasured for their anthropological importance, revered and left untouched in case of damage. Yet, in this body of work, the artist reallocates their purpose: removing their conventional and historical importance and replacing it under a different system of valuation and appreciation. The artist, in the use of ancient objects, has added a further dimension to the concept of the “readymade”. The method differs from the strategy famously used by artists such as Duchamp, where the object is devoid of cultural or metaphorical gravitas until projected in an art context. In this case, the modified objects are in fact artefacts, existing in cultural significance and importance even without the artist’s creative modifications. The alterations work instead to amalgamate past and contemporary: injecting a historically valuable object with contemporary implication and allusion. The works have caused much controversy in the contradicting definitions of this process, as either re-instilling or replacing intrinsic value. The substitution of one value for another occurs in the defacing of the urn with a contemporary slogan; yet the original object still exists beneath the imposed image, underlying it with an established worth and ancient importance. However, this re-evaluation of the work also lends it a contemporary importance, presenting itself as a statement object, pertinent in the modern world. "[Ai Weiwei's] gestural practice of defacing and destroying these ancient objects to transform them into works of contemporary art, provide the illusion of clarity alongside the persistent spectre of ambiguity. What appears at first like the sublimation of an ancient object's financial value and cultural worth into a different yet parallel carrier of updated value and worth also serves as a satire of the ruling regime's approach to its patrimony, a
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