Weiwei Art Quotes & Sayings

New York is a city where you're so alone, you're an individual, you can disappear. You can make something happen. But it's very different to make something happen in the art world. — Ai Weiwei

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

I admire Ai Weiwei for his art and his activism. His art is beautiful in form, and in function embodies the principles of populism and social consciousness I aspire to in my own practice. — Shepard Fairey

Everything is art. Everything is politics. — Ai Weiwei

I think of art as coming from daily life, daily experience. I think it's very important not to have it become work for some kind of elite circle. — Ai Weiwei

People are always wondering if I am an artist or political activist or politician. Maybe I'll just clearly tell you: Whatever I do is not art. Let's say it is just objects or materials, movies or writing, but not art, OK? — Ai Weiwei

The purpose of art is the fight for freedom, — Ai Weiwei

The art always wins. Anything can happen to me, but the art will stay. — Ai Weiwei

Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression. — Ai Weiwei

I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it's all we need. — Ai Weiwei

I'm always interested in people who are not orientated in art circles to become part of it. — Ai Weiwei

We are living in a very complex society. It puts me in a complex frame of thinking. — Ai Weiwei

Widespread state control over art and culture has left no room for freedom of expression in the country. For more than 60 years, anyone with a dissenting opinion has been suppressed. Chinese art is merely a product: it avoids any meaningful engagement. There is no larger context. Its only purpose is to charm viewers with its ambiguity. — Ai Weiwei

Art needs to stand for something. — Ai Weiwei

I don't think it's worth discussing new directions in the context of Chinese art - there were no old directions, either. Chinese art has never had any clear orientation. — Ai Weiwei

My work is always a ready-made ... cultural, political, or social, and also it could be art - to make people re-look at what we have done, its original position, to create new possibilities. — Ai Weiwei

I always want to design a frame that's open to everyone. I don't see art as a secret code. — Ai Weiwei

The Chinese art world does not exist. In a society that restricts individual freedoms and violates human rights, anything that calls itself creative or independent is a pretence. It is impossible for a totalitarian society to create anything with passion and imagination. — Ai Weiwei

This so-called contemporary art is not a form, but a philosophy of society, — Ai Weiwei

I'm most embarrassed at my art shows, even though I don't show it. — Ai Weiwei

Freedom of expression is a very essential condition for me to make any art. Also, it is an essential value for my life. I have to protect this right and also to fight for the possibility. — Ai Weiwei

I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art. — Ai Weiwei

In the early 1990s we witnessed the emergence of a revitalized contemporary Chinese art world that began as a reaction against the government-approved Social Realist style. Zhang Xiaogang, Huang Yong Ping, Ai WeiWei, Yue Minjun, and Wang Guangyi were among the first group of artists to establish a movement that became known as Cynical Realism. — Arne Glimcher

As a person, I was born to give out my opinions. By giving out my opinions, I realize who I am. As long as I can communicate, I'm not so lonely. If I cannot travel, or do art, or have company, if they take away all my belongings, it doesn't matter at all. — Ai Weiwei

I think art is a very important weapon to achieve human freedom — Ai Weiwei

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. — Ai Weiwei

If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for? — Ai Weiwei

China is an old nation with a colourful history. Its booming economy has triggered an appetite and a curiosity around the world for its art and culture, one that continues to grow. I can, however, tell people that it is a show with no actor. — Ai Weiwei

Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. — Ai Weiwei

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