"Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn, Ceramic Works 5000 B.C.-A.D. 2010"

Davies, Christie, New Criterion

"Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn, Ceramic Works 5000 B.C.-A.D. 2010" Victoria & Albert Museum, London. October 16, 2011-March 18, 2012

"The Flamboyant Mr. Chinnery: An English Artist in India and China" Asia House, London. November 4, 2011-January 21, 2012

"Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn" at the Victoria and Albeit Museum and "The Flamboyant Mr. Chinnery" at Asia House offer, in quite, different ways, interesting insights into the interplay between Chinese and Western Art.

At the center of the exhibition "Dropping the Urn," is a triple-framed photo of the Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei first holding, then dropping, then standing by the shattered shards of a Han Dynasty (266 B.C.-A.D. 220) urn. A valuable historic artifact has become a disposable item in an enactment of modern performance art. The curators of die V&A have thoughtfully placed close at hand a similar, but intact, Eastern Han earthenware jar with a brown lead glaze. The curators have done the same with Ai's Coca-Cola Vase (1997), made by painting a Coca-Cola logo in bright red with gold underlining on a Neolithic vase. Next to it stands a similar but unimproved earth-colored vase with black decoration; both date from 5000-3000 B.C., The branded version has by far die …

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Publication information: Article title: "Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn, Ceramic Works 5000 B.C.-A.D. 2010". Contributors: Davies, Christie - Author. Magazine title: New Criterion. Volume: 30. Issue: 6 Publication date: February 2012. Page number: 47+. © 1999 Foundation for Cultural Review. COPYRIGHT 2012 Gale Group.

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