Ai Weiwei makes statements with artwork. In the spring, the artist displayed several pieces at the London Design Museum in England. The exhibit is called “Making Sense.” One work is based on Claude Monet’s Water Lilies—only this version uses LEGOs, not paint.
Ai Weiwei is an activist-artist. He often criticizes China, his homeland. Sometimes his opposition is harsh and crude. His father, Ai Qing, was a well-known poet. The Ai family spent years in exile because of the father’s poetry. Arrested in 2011 over his own artwork’s anti-government messages, Ai lives again in exile.
One of his works includes 250,000 porcelain spouts from teapots and wine vessels. Ai says it makes a statement about free speech: The containers’ “mouths” are removed.
Untitled (LEGO Incident) features plastic bricks spread on a gallery floor. The public donated the pieces after LEGO briefly refused to sell to Ai in 2014. (See LEGO My Free Speech! at teen.wng.org/node/2538.)
Waterlilies #1 is Ai’s interpretation of Claude Monet’s many waterlily paintings. Viewers immediately recognize the style and vibrant colors patterned after the French Impressionist’s very famous work. Ai uses 650,000 LEGO bricks in 22 colors for his 50-foot-wide version.
He explains, “In Water Lilies #1, I integrate Monet’s Impressionist painting . . . and concrete experiences of my father and me into a digitized and pixelated language.”
He calls the work “a memory piece,” partly because Ai Qing liked Monet and partly for a non-Monet dark shape he added. It represents the door to the dugout where the Ais lived in exile.
For better or worse, artists often have influence beyond their own lives. Monet influenced the painting world of the 1800s. Today, he influences Ai, who influences others. What will you influence? And upon whose work might you build to do so?
Why? We will be part of someone else’s story—even if we think our influence is small. Make your life and work worthy of being imitated or used as a stepping stone for others.
Help from Our Friends
Ai Weiwei borrowed from Claude Monet. That artist borrowed too—from his big brother.
Leon Monet was vital to Claude’s achievements—and the color palette of masterpieces like the “Water Lilies” series.
“Without Leon there would not have really been a Monet,” says art curator Geraldine Lefebvre.
Leon fed Claude, introduced him to other artists, gave him money, and bought his art at high prices to boost his reputation.
“More than that,” says Lefebvre, Claude’s vibrant colors “came from the synthetic textile dye colors Leon created” as a chemist.
“The French press coined the term ‘Monet green,’” for a brilliant new hue, Lefebvre says. They didn’t know it originated from the other Monet.
From the beginning, God created people to be interdependent. He said it was not good for Adam to be alone. Paul says the Christian body is made of many parts, each with its own role.
Claude needed Leon. Ai Weiwei drew on the Monets’ contribution. Whatever any of us achieves, we do with and for others!
