Tag Archives: artnews.com

Ai Weiwei

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Contemporary artist Ai Weiwei is having another moment right now – or maybe he’s emblematic of our time.  If you’ve been following The Art Caravan for awhile, you know that I think he’s a fantastic artist.  In an October 2014 post , I wrote This is one of the best exhibitions I have ever seen.  Seven years later, I don’t disagree.  Here’s a brief summary (with images and video) from For-Site Foundation, about Large, the installations I (fortunately) experienced at Alcatraz.

Pace Prints has a Weiwei exhibition running until May 29, 2021.  In conjunction with the show, they are releasing a silkscreen print edition of Year of the Ox, which references his 2018 Zodiac  and 2010 Zodiac Heads series.

Year of the Ox, 2021, Ai Weiwei, artsy.net image

Year of the Ox, 2021, Ai Weiwei, paceprints.com

Beginning May 15, and running to August 1, Skirball Cultural Center presents Ai Weiwei:  Trace.  Part of their programming includes this conversation with Skirball curator Yael Lipschutz.  It’s worth a listen to hear Weiwei’s political perspectives.  I found the discussion of his artistic process fascinating.  It’s a thought provoking interview.

Artnet news announced the November 2021 publication of an Ai Weiwei memoir 1000 Days of Joys and Sorrows.  In this very brief video, Weiwei explains the genesis of this book.  He ends with these bold words:  What is the cost for freedom?  If art cannot engage with life it has no future. No surprise that his father was a poet;  Selected Poems  by Ai Qing will be published in English and released the same day as 1000 Days of Joys and Sorrows.

The Art Caravan won’t, unfortunately,  be traveling to NYC or Los Angeles anytime soon. sigh  In the meantime, here’s another brief flashback to an Ai Weiwei installation I saw in Vancouver in 2015.

The F Grass, Ai Weiwei, Vancouver Biennale, image by T. Vatrt

 

Loss, …and change?

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It’s a time of great loss.  The death of the American painter, Emma Amos , adds another drop into the ocean of sadness threatening to flood our world.

Black Dog Blues, Emma Amos, 1983 artnews image

Emma Amos (American, born 1938). Preparing for a Face Lift, 1981. Etching and crayon, 8 ¼ × 7 ¾ in. (21 × 19.7 cm). Courtesy of Emma Amos. © Emma Amos; courtesy of the artist and RYAN LEE, New York. Licensed by VAGA, New York

Baby, Emma Amos, 1966, oil on canvas, 45″ x 50″

Artnews has prepared a brief slideshow of a few of her works.   Ms Amos worked across several media, from drawing and painting to printmaking, tapestry and installation work.

Emma Amos was an artist, wife, mother, and (sometimes) reluctant activitist.  She was a Guerrilla Girl! Guerrilla Girls work anonymously to expose gender and ethnic bias, but Ms Amos did say I was once a member of a very famous clandestine women’s group that worked at night and did not ever go out without masks on our faces.

Howard Cotter’s article in the New York Times Is worth a read.  It’s a factual, insightful and compassionate summary of a very accomplished artist. He points out the significance of paintings like Tightrope, Equals and Work Suit.

Tightrope, Emma Amos, 1994, acrylic on linen with African fabric borders, 82″ x 58″

Equals, Emma Amos, acrylic on linen fabric, image transfer, African fabric borders, 1992

Work Suit, 1994 Acrylic on linen, with African fabric borders and photo transfer, 74″ x 54″ Image courtesy Ryan Lee Gallery

If you’re like me, you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of Emma Amos, or seen her work.  She wondered the same thing.  The ARTnews article about her career quotes her: I wake up in the morning and say, ‘I have one piece at the Museum of Modern Art.  I wonder, Is it still there?’  ‘You know, I wonder if I’ve been deaccessioned,’ she said. ‘And I wonder how come nobody knows who I am?’

As we all know, it’s time for that to change.