{"id":4650,"date":"2026-02-19T11:30:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T18:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=4650"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:30:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T18:30:28","slug":"a-newly-updated-monograph-surveys-four-decades-of-ai-weiweis-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=4650","title":{"rendered":"A Newly Updated Monograph Surveys Four Decades of Ai Weiwei\u2019s Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

From his monumental, meditative installation of 100 million hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds on the floor of Turbine Hall at Tate Modern to architectural columns wrapped in 14,000 salvaged life vests worn by refugees<\/a>, artist-activist Ai Weiwei<\/a> has long tapped into the power of scale, repetition, and symbols to plumb cultural heritage and expose societal issues.<\/p>\n

Ai is known for his wide-ranging practice that encompasses large-scale installations<\/a>, video, architecture, photography, public art, and more. This spring, TASCHEN releases a fully revised monograph titled Ai Weiwei. Updated Edition<\/a><\/em>, building upon the initial volume published a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\"A
\u201cHan Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola Logo\u201d (1994,), Western Han Dynasty urn and paint, 25 x \u00f8 28 centimeters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Originally published right after Ai left China, unsure if he\u2019d ever be able to return due to the country\u2019s hostility toward his critical practice, this new volume happens to coincide with the artist\u2019s first trip home after 10 years away<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new edition chronicles the Chinese artist\u2019s global practice, from his time spent in New York City in the 1980s to his well-known multimedia Zodiac series to recent, architectonic LEGO compositions<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Ai Weiwei. Updated Edition <\/em>is slated for release next month. Pre-order your copy on Bookshop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n
\"An
\u201cFragments\u201d (2005), table, chairs, parts of beams and pillars from dismantled Qing Dynasty temples, 500 x 850 x 700 centimeters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A portrait of Ai Weiwei with water in the background, holding a cardboard sign that reads \"#safepassage\"
Ai Weiwei during the filming of \u2018Human Flow,\u2019 his documentary on the global refugee crisis, Lesvos (2016)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/figure>\n
\"A
\u201cWheatfield with Crows\u201d (2024), toy bricks, 160 x 320 centimeters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/figure>\n
\"The<\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article A Newly Updated Monograph Surveys Four Decades of Ai Weiwei\u2019s Career<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From his monumental, meditative installation of 100 million hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds on the floor of Turbine Hall at Tate Modern to architectural columns wrapped in 14,000 salvaged life vests…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}