Ai Weiwei: Quotes about art

Ai Weiwei is Chinese concept artist. Explore interesting quotes on art.
Ai Weiwei: 436   quotes 37   likes

“Very few people know why art sells so high. I don’t even know.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei, interview in “ Change http://www.pbs.org/art21/watch-now/episode-change,” Episode 1, Season Six, Art: 21—Art in the Twenty-First Century, PBS, April 2012.
2010-, 2012

People , Art

“Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression.”

Ai Weiwei

Solway, Diane. “Enforced Disappearance.” W Magazine, November 2011.
2010-, 2011

Art

“I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art.”

Ai Weiwei

Osnos, Evan. “ It’s Not Beautiful: An Artist Takes On the System http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/05/24/100524fa_fact_osnos?currentPage=all.” New Yorker, May 24, 2010, 54–63.
2010-, 2010

Life , Art , Way , Thinking

“The art always wins. Anything can happen to me, but the art will stay.”

Ai Weiwei

“ Ai Weiwei: Artistic Licence http://www.economist.com/node/21554178.” Economist, May 5, 2012.
2010-, 2012

Art

“I always want to design a frame that’s open to everyone. I don’t see art as a secret code.”

Ai Weiwei

“ Artist’s Quotes http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/unilever-series-ai-weiwei/artists-quote.” Excerpted from a conversation with curators Juliet Bingham and Marko Daniel, Beijing, May 31 and June 1, 2010. Tate Museums, UK.
2010-, 2010

Secret , Art

“Everything is art. Everything is politics.”

Ai Weiwei

Coonan, Clifford. “ An Artist’s Struggle for Justice in China http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/an-artists-struggle-for-justice-in-china1912352.html.” Independent, February 27, 2010.
2010-, 2010

Art

“I came to art because I wanted to escape the other regulations of the society. The whole society is so political. But the irony is that my art becomes more and more political.”

Ai Weiwei

Wines, Michael. “China’s Impolitic Artist, Still Waiting to Be Silenced.” New York Times, November 28, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/world/asia/28weiwei.html?pagewanted=all
2000-09, 2009

Art

“I think all aesthetic judgments—all the aesthetic choices we are making—are moral choices. They cannot escape the moral dimension in the broader sense. It has to relate to the philosophical understanding of who we are and how so-called “art and culture” functions in today’s world.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Escape from Propaganda, 2009

World , Art , Understanding , Thinking

“Art is not an end but a beginning.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Ai Weiwei: A Rebel of Poet Roots, 2008

Art

“It’s really life and death [not art]. When they tell you your mother is 80 years old but you cannot see her again, you can never call it performance art. Or when your son is three, and they tell you that when you are released he will be in his teens and can never recognize you as a father. You feel terrible inside, to lose those chances. Each day, they tell you, 'You will spend your life day after day the same, minute after minute the same. You just have to pay [with] your life for this kind of so-called freedom that you are fighting for.”

Ai Weiwei

There is no sense of justice there. Why do I have to do this with them? Why do I have to argue or play this game?"
2010-, You’re There but You’re Not Existing, 2012

Life , Death , Justice , Art

“I don’t have this concept that separates my art from my daily life. They are one thing to me. They are always one. How do you find the way to express yourself and how to communicate with others?”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei Does Not Feel Powerful, 2011

Life , Art , Way , Communication

“I’m not sure I’m good at art, but I find an escape in it.”

Ai Weiwei

Barboza, David, and Lynn Zhang. “ The Clown Scholar: Ai Weiwei http://www.artzinechina.com/display.php?a=180..” ArtzineChina, 2008.
2000-09, 2008

Art

“Living in a system under the Communist ideology, an artist cannot avoid fighting for freedom of expression. You always have to be aware that art is not only a self-expression but a demonstration of human rights and dignity. To express yourself freely, a right as personal as it is, has always been difficult, given the political situation.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Ai Weiwei: A Rebel of Poet Roots, 2008

Art , Freedom , Fight , Personality

“Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: ‘Shame on Me.’, 2011

Life , Art , Feeling , Joy

“My activism is a part of me. If my art has anything to do with me, then my activism is part of my art.”

Ai Weiwei

“Ai Weiwei’s Year of Living Dangerously.” Art in America, September 2009, 28.
2000-09, 2009

Art , Parting

“Contemporary art and the [Communist] Party are an impossible situation. It’s like oil and water—they can never mix.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

Art , Water

“I think art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to change the current conditions.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei Does Not Feel Powerful, 2011

Art , Imagination , Idea , Thinking

“My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall. Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don’t think art is elite or mysterious. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics. The intention to separate art from politics is itself a very political intention.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: ‘Shame on Me.’, 2011

People , Art , Way , Communication

“I spend very little time just doing '“art as art.'”

Ai Weiwei

Jones, Alice. “ Ten People Who Changed the World: Ai Weiwei, Chinese Artist, Became a Truly Global Force http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/ten-people-who-changed-the-world-ai-weiwei-chinese-artist-became-a-truly-global-force-6282327.html.” Independent, December 31, 2011.
2010-, 2011

Art , Time