WEIWEI TOO DANGEROUS

The latest London exhibition.

Early memories from Salvador Dali's place in Figueres to playing poohsticks on Monet's bridge at his home in Giverny, that was growing up. There's always been something to draw, a story to shout about, and that's still the case today.

The Royal Academy of Arts has invited Ai Weiwei to London to house some of his most famous works from the last twenty years. It's a powerful exhibition, particularly the fallen pieces he uses from the Sichuan earthquake. For starters, there's gas masks and cameras made of marble and chandeliers made from bicycles.

I visited the exhibition with Dad and his carefully selected t-shirt for the occasion. For Weiwei, a guy who was put under house arrest for his outspoken and perceived dangerous views he must have said, done something to offend, and in this show he shouts loudly about it. S.A.C.R.E.D one of his installations is a huge nod to the time he spent under guard.

6 brown boxes, each with its own little door offer the chance for you to look inside and see a small statute of Weiwei guarded by soldiers as he eats, sleeps and goes to the toilet. There's peep holes around the box for you to look in, and even steps to get a better look from the top down. Surrounding the boxes there's wallpaper, and on closer inspection it's made up of CCTV cameras and the Twitter bird. Weiwei is probably one of the most active artists on Twitter with 295.2k followers. In the past he's talked about the 'Great Firewall of China' so it makes sense that he also displays work socially without interruption. The exhibition is clever, thought provoking, there's subtle hints to oppression, and from it, things of beauty. If you like your art with a bit of danger go see this.

Ai Weiwei. Royal Academy of Arts, now until December 13th Roy.ac/aww

@aiww