Beschreibung:

Ai Weiwei Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads 2010 gold-plated bronze Rat: 71 x 33 x 53 cm (27 7/8 x 12 7/8 x 20 7/8 in.) Ox: 74 x 51 x 43 cm (29 1/8 x 20 1/8 x 16 7/8 in.) Tiger: 66 x 38 x 43 cm (25 7/8 x 14 7/8 x 16 7/8 in.) Rabbit: 71 x 25 x 48 cm (27 7/8 x 9 7/8 x 18 7/8 in.) Dragon: 91 x 46 x 66 cm (35 7/8 x 18 1/8 x 25 7/8 in.) Snake: 71 x 36 x 17 cm (27 7/8 x 14 1/8 x 6 3/4 in.) Horse: 74 x 31 x 56 cm (29 1/8 x 12 1/4 x 22 in.) Ram: 64 x 53 x 41 cm (25 1/4 x 20 7/8 x 16 1/8 in.) Monkey: 69 x 33 x 38 cm (27 1/8 x 12 7/8 x 14 7/8 in.) Rooster: 61 x 23 x 43 cm (24 x 9 x 16 7/8 in.) Dog: 64 x 38 x 48 cm (25 1/4 x 14 7/8 x 18 7/8 in.) Boar: 69 x 41 x 53 cm (27 1/8 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 in.) This work is number 7 from an edition of 8 plus 4 artist's proofs.
Provenance Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York Catalogue Essay ‘My work is always dealing with real or fake, authenticity, what the value is, and how the value relates to current political and social understandings and misunderstandings. I think there’s a strong humorous aspect there.’ – AI WEIWEI 2011 Ai Weiwei’s Zodiac Heads form perhaps his most monumental and penetrating study into the relationship between the original and the copy. The heads that these are based on once comprised a water clock-fountain in the European-style Garden of Perfect Brightness, owned by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), and were designed in the 1700s by two European Jesuits in his court. This multicultural genesis for Ai’s source was further complicated with the ransacking of the palace in 1860 by French and British troops; some of the zodiac heads were taken to the collections of the French and English courts, and others have appeared in auction houses in London and Beijing. Only seven of the twelve figures are still known to exist. Five were repatriated to China, but ownership of the remaining two is still contested. Their status remains an emotive issue for the country. In 2009, the estate of Yves Saint Laurent put up two heads – a rat and a rabbit – for sale at Christie’s Paris, with estimates of $13 million US each: the Chinese government attempted to prevent the sale, but was overruled by a French court, leading to strained relations with France. The huge dimensions and almost cartoonish expressions of the animals here are playful, even humorous, but their appealing form grapples with a dark period in the country’s past. The fountain’s destruction became emblematic of a period of violent imperialist intervention in China often referred to as ‘The Century of Humiliation,’ and the wound is still raw. In Ai’s retelling of the story, though, appropriation becomes democratisation, as the objects once reserved only for the gaze of a privileged elite now travel as public artworks available for anybody to see. Compounding this notion is China’s modern status as the global centre for mass-produced commodities (and forgeries) – the artist frequently probes this issue as a springboard for his explorations of authenticity and reproduction. One powerful motif is his Han Dynasty vase covered in household paint, a group of which appear in the present sale. Our relationship to imputed cultural and historical worth is a complicated one that Ai delights in challenging. How important is an object’s ancient heritage in a world that places arbitrary value on so many things? When a China in thrall to Western consumerism acts as antagonist to its own history, can objections to the destructive or creative plunder of original artefacts be taken seriously? Ai Weiwei himself occupies a position of cultural tension. His father, Ai Qing, was one of China’s most revered modernist poets, yet exiled to remote Xinjiang for twenty years from 1958 as a rightist: Ai Weiwei born in 1957, thus entered the world as both a political exile and as a member of the artistic elite. This inheritance paved the way for the social activism and staunch advocacy of free speech that has characterised his career. Unafraid of highlighting the abuses and injustice of the Chinese state, he has been hounded by the authorities for years, even spending several months imprisoned in 2011. The gilding of the zodiac here carries a dual weight. Resplendent in beauty, the animals radiate the opulent inheritance of their ancient court setting; but the original heads – as well as Ai’s larger alternate version of this work – were in fact unadorned bronze. The plated gold thus captures a metaphorical gilding, as collective reverence of these objects has only been heightened by their historical theft, perhaps even obscuring aspects of their original significance. Similarly, Ai claims that the concept of the zodiac itself has today been divested of much of its ancient importance: ‘I think today, th