Lisson Gallery
在纽约Lisson画廊的首次个展上，艾未未展出了长约5米的被砍倒的铸铁树干，以及一系列由铁铸而成的根雕，背景为一张新装配的壁纸。展出的七件雕塑首次完整位于切尔西空中花园 (High Line) 底部的横梁之间，融为一体，形成一个充满错位物品的森林，透露出艺术家对传统和历史的兴趣，以及在后现代社会中重置概念的风行。
自然物——从2010年在泰特现代美术馆的涡轮大厅地面上展出的葵瓜子，到他的陶瓷岩石、西瓜等系列作品——是艾未未持续的灵感来源。并且自2009年起，树木作为他的精神主旨反复出现在他的作品中。这些纪念碑式的由多部分组成的木制或铁制的雕塑均由不同树木的不同部分组合而成，由艺术家根据亚洲爱好收集干树的传统，从中国各地收集而来，这种古老传统缘于人们对它们复杂外形的沉迷。
碎片也在艾未未的作品中占据着重要位置，因为它们将观众的注意力强制转移到形成整体的基础元素以及最根本的单元上。在这里，根据艺术家的世界观，整体并非大于形成它的所有部分的总和，相反，每一个单独的部分互相平等，且具有各自独一无二的重要性。这种对平等的关注在艺术家近期的项目中体现得较为明显，他将其作为难民危机系列项目和挑战言论自由的出发点。
铁树根和铁树干以一种自然的、不加修饰的状态呈现，乍一看颇为自然，但仔细观察，便可发现人造的痕迹。这些作品并非自然产物，而是出自人工之手，在周边环境的扭曲下，它们代表着一个被工业化与现代化连根拔起的社会，表明了进步往往以牺牲文化与社会的安乐为代价。通过去掉它们最初的功能和价值，艾未未对这些物体赋予了新的意义，并迫使我们用新的眼光去面对它们。
For his first solo exhibition with Lisson New York, Ai Weiwei populates the gallery with felled, cast-iron tree trunks, nearly sixteen feet in length, and a series of iron root sculptures set against the backdrop of a new wallpaper installation. Situated among the beams of the High Line exposed entirely in this exhibition for the first time, the seven sculptures on display combine to create a forest of displaced objects and reveal the artist’s interest in tradition and contemporaneity as well as the prevalence of displacement in post-modern societies.
Natural objects – from the sunflower seeds that carpeted Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2010 to his series of porcelain rocks and watermelons – have been an ongoing source of inspiration for Ai Weiwei, with trees recurring as a spiritual motif in his work since 2009. These monumental wooden or iron multipartite sculptures are all composites of different parts of different trees gathered by the artist from various parts of China in reference to the ancient Asian tradition of collecting dry fragments of trees for contemplation of their complex forms.
Fragments also play an important part in Ai Weiwei’s work as they force attention on foundational elements and the most basic units that combine to create a whole. Here, in line with the artist’s worldview, the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts but rather each individual part is equal and of unique importance. This focus on equality is evidenced in recent projects by the artist that take as their starting point the refugee crisis and challenges to freedom of speech.
The iron roots and tree trunks shown in New York are presented in a natural, untreated state, appearing at first glance as organic forms, yet upon closer inspection, reveal their artificiality. Not born of nature but made by human hands, the works, themselves contorted by the surrounding landscape, represent a society uprooted by industrialisation and modernisation, illustrating how progress can often come at the expense of cultural and societal well-being. By eliminating their original function and value, Ai Weiwei imbues the objects with new meaning and forces us to confront them in a new light.
Mary Boone Gallery
2016年11月5日，在切尔西区和第五大道的两间Mary Boone画廊同时开幕展览 “艾未未 2016: 根与枝干”，展出了艾未未的近期作品，包括以多种媒介呈现的作品——从古木到瓷器，再到现代的乐高积木，以及由他本人设计的墙纸。
位于切尔西区的Mary Boone画廊摆放着一颗巨大的树，高达7.6米。这棵树由来自中国南部山脉的死树风化部分改造而成，通过螺栓连成一棵完整的、健康的、枝干四处蔓延的树。树是一种图腾，象征着由许多古代少数民族群体结合建立而成的现代中国的力量，也可以理解为彰显了从逝去的且不可挽回的旧事物中创造新事物的坚定决心。
展览也包含由乐高LEGO塑料玩具积木组成的新作品。通过乐高“像素风”重组的《摔碎一只汉代陶罐》三联画，原是艾未未著名的观念影像作品，描绘了他一人摧毁代表中国过去脆弱形象的过程；另一件乐高积木作品《自画像》，采用了安迪·沃霍尔丝网肖像画的明亮颜色与重复影像的特点，展示了艾未未的代表形象。
位于第五大道Mary Boone画廊的主展厅展出了由中国瓷茶壶古董破碎而形成的40,000个圆形壶嘴。以“竖起中指的手臂”为图案的墙纸，设计复杂，显示了艾未未众所周知的对系列照片的视角研究。在此背景下，每个壶嘴的形状与弯曲的手指相似，因脱离母体而失去作用。
两间Mary Boone画廊各包含一件用回收的古代花梨木制作而成的装置作品。《多宝阁》是一个精心设计的放大版迷箱，只能通过转动机关才能打开；《垃圾箱》是仿照一个侧面开口的垃圾箱制作而成，为悼念躲避在垃圾箱内取暖，最终窒息而死的五名无家可归的贵州儿童。
On 5 November 2016, Mary Boone Gallery opened at both its Chelsea and Fifth Avenue locations Ai Weiwei 2016: Roots and Branches, an exhibition of recent works by eminent international artist and human rights activist AI WEIWEI.
The show includes works in a variety of mediums – from ancient wood and porcelain, to modern LEGO bricks, and wallpaper of the Artist’s design.
The Gallery/Downtown (541 West 24 Street), houses the monumental (25 foot high) Tree. Constructed from weathered sections of dead trees that have been brought down from the mountains of Southern China and bolted together in the form of a whole, healthy tree with spreading branches, Tree is a totem that may be seen as a comment on the strength of modern China built from many ancient ethnic groups, or a determined attempt to create something new and vital from what is irrevocably lost.
The show also includes new works composed from plastic LEGO toy bricks. Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn recreates with “pixels” of LEGOs Ai’s iconic triptych of black and white photographs depicting himself in the act of destroying a fragile symbol of China’s past. Self-Portrait, another LEGO work, presents an image of Ai Weiwei that adopts the bright color and repetition of Warhol’s silkscreen portraits.
At the Gallery/Uptown (745 Fifth Avenue), a circular field of 40,000 spouts broken from antique Chinese porcelain teapots fills the main room. Wallpaper with a complex design of an arm with extended middle finger, referencing Ai’s well-known Study of Perspective series of photographs, serves as the backdrop for this installation. Seen in this context, the individual spouts mimic the form of the bent finger, excised and rendered ineffectual.
Each location also includes one of Ai’s works made of ancient reclaimed huali wood. Treasure Box is an enlargement of an intricate puzzle-box of sliding and locking compartments, and Garbage Container, modeled after a bin turned on its side, is an elegy to five homeless boys in Guizhou Province who suffocated in a dumpster while trying to stay warm.