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Why did Ai Weiwei make Sunflower Seeds?
1 Answer
Ai Weiwei made Sunflower Seeds to provide a political critique. During his childhood, the Chinese artist frequently saw propaganda posters depicting Mao Zedong, founder of the Chinese Communist Party, as the sun and the citizens of China as sunflowers thriving beneath his rays. His installation featuring 100 million individually handmade sunflower seeds symbolized the poverty that the artist experienced while growing up in Communist China and the reduction of people as individuals / the grouping of individual human beings into a mass that occurred under Communist rule. Shop a collection of Ai Weiwei art on 1stDibs.
1stDibs ExpertFebruary 13, 2024
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Shop for Ai Weiwei Art on 1stDibs
Ai Weiwei - Cats (Red), original silkscreen, hand signed 116/150, Chinese Framed
By Ai Weiwei
Located in New York, NY
Ai Weiwei
Cats (Red), 2022
Screen print on Saunders Waterford 300gsm paper
Hand signed, dated, and numbered 87/150 by Ai Weiwei on the front
13 1/2 × 17 inches
Unframed
This print wa...
Category
2010s Contemporary Animal Prints
Materials
Pencil, Screen
Ai Weiwei - Have You Seen Ai Weiwei's Cats? poster (Hand Signed by Ai Weiwei)
By Ai Weiwei
Located in New York, NY
Offset lithograph poster
Boldly signed in red marker by Ai Weiwei, and bearing the Kettle's Yard gallery logo
(unnumbered, from a limited edition of fewer than 50 hand signed)
The "H...
Category
2010s Contemporary Animal Prints
Materials
Offset
AI WEIWEI - GUARDIAN (Purple). Signed Limited edition Contemporary Asia Modern
By Ai Weiwei
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Date of creation: 2026
Medium: 2 colour silkscreen with metallic glitter base layer on Somerset paper.
Edition: 557
Size: 60 x 60 cm
Condition: Brand new, never framed or display
In...
Category
2010s Modern Figurative Prints
Materials
Glitter, Screen
Middle Finger in Red
By Ai Weiwei
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Ai Weiwei
Title: Middle Finger in Red
Year: 2023
Medium: 2 colour silkscreen print on 410gsm Somerset Tub Sized Satin White paper
Edition: 1285; signed in pencil
Sheet: 23 3/...
Category
2010s Contemporary More Prints
Materials
Screen
AI WEIWEI - GUARDIAN (Green). Signed Limited edition Contemporary Asia Modern
By Ai Weiwei
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Date of creation: 2026
Medium: 2 colour silkscreen with metallic glitter base layer on Somerset paper.
Edition: 279
Size: 60 x 60 cm
Condition: Brand new, never framed or display
Po...
Category
2010s Figurative Prints
Materials
Glitter, Screen
Ai Weiwei, Coca-Cola Vase (Blue)
By Ai Weiwei
Located in Hamburg, DE
Ai Weiwei (Chinese, b. 1957)
Coca-Cola Vase (Blue), 2024
Medium: Glass sculpture (Murano)
Dimensions: 20.5 x 22 cm (8.07 × 8.66 in)
Edition of 100: Engraved signature on base, ha...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Glass
