Ai Weiwei uses Legos in new ‘Overrated’ exhibit

Ai Weiwei at Alcatraz, Haines Gallery Director Cheryl Haines says it is “refreshingly easier putting together a gallery exhibition” of the Chinese artist and activist’s work.

After closing the gallery for six weeks to make Ai’s suggested renovations, including a longer, uninterrupted wall to showcase his 40 famous “Study of Perspective” photos in which he gives the middle finger to various iconic world landmarks, Haines Gallery reopened in April with Ai Weiwei:

The captivating multimedia selection of the 58-year-old Beijing artist’s work shows his art and social activism as seamlessly entwined as ever.

At this most recent San Francisco show, Ai’s famous 1995 black-and-white photographic triptych “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn,” in which the artist stares into the camera while shattering an ancient ceramic relic at his feet, returns remade at grand scale in Lego bricks.

The Legos approximate the pixelation of Internet and surveillance imagery, bringing forth important social issues, yet are a material everyone, even children, can relate to.