, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has unveiled a homage to Impressionist painter, Claude Monet, constructed entirely of Lego. , is Ai’s largest Lego artwork to date, spanning 15m in length and comprising 650,000 studs of Lego bricks in 22 colours.
The new work will be on view as part of the Design Museum’s much-anticipated exhibition ‘Ai Weiwei: Making Sense’, which opens on Friday 7 April, and will be the artist’s first exhibition to focus on design and architecture, as well as his largest solo show in eight years. , Ai probes notions of reality and artifice.
As Ai Weiwei commented, ‘Our world is complex and collapsing towards an unpredictable future. It's crucial for individuals to find a personalised language to express their experience of these challenging conditions. Personalised expression arises from identifying with history and memories while creating a new language and narrative. Without a personal narrative, artistic narration loses its quality.
Justin McGuirk, Chief Curator at the Design Museum and curator of ‘Ai Weiwei: Making Sense’ said: ‘Several of the works in this exhibition capture the destruction of urban development in China over the last two decades. WithAi Weiwei presents us with an alternate vision – a garden paradise.