Swatter

AI WEIWEI (B. 1957)

Swatter

stamped with the artist's initials 'AI' (on the bottom of the handle), stamped with the inscription and number 'Edition for Parkett 81 No 12/55' (on the handle). Accompanied by a signed and numbered certificate.

gilded brass

21 1/4 x 4 3/8 x 1/4 inches (54 x 11.1 x 0.6 cm)

Executed in 2007. This work is number 12 from an edition of 55 plus 25 artist's proofs.

Published by Parkett Publishers, Zürich and New York for Parkett 81.

PROVENANCE:

Acquired directly from the publisher by the present owner

"I visited the artist in his studio in Peking twice. His work is strong, evocative and meaningful - here he takes a simple fly swatter and enlarges it to importance."

-Martha Stewart

NOTES:

"I make the useful become not useful . . . It is a basis for dealing with perception and when you think about how people use an object, you're also using so-called knowledge in the sense that "useful" has a meaning. The meaning is the use. And that plays a great role in human understanding and culture."

-Ai Weiwei in conversation with Jacques Herzog, Parkett No. 81, 2003

Born in Beijing in 1957, Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist whose practice spans sculpture, installation, photography, and social media, using art to expose human rights abuses and demand government accountability. His monumental projects, from the millions of handcrafted porcelain seeds in Sunflower Seeds originally displayed at the Tate Modern, to the dismantling of his own studio by Chinese authorities as shared on social media, reflect his fearless critique of power and the fragility of individual freedom. Through a career defined equally by aesthetic innovation and political resistance, Ai Weiwei has redefined the role of the artist as an agent of social change. 

Parkett offers a unique and comprehensive archive of contemporary art and artists from around the world. Its 101 volumes, published between 1984 and 2017, include direct collaborations with some of the most compelling artists of the time. Across the series, 270 artists’ portraits were presented, each accompanied by three to five texts written by renowned critics, authors and curators. In addition to these in-depth features, every collaborating artist created an editioned artwork specifically for Parkett, taking diverse forms such as prints, sculptures, installations, media works, paintings and drawings.