HUFFINGTON
09.30.12
THE DISRUPTOR
Ai — who was named the most
powerful person in the art world
in an annual poll by industry
magazine ArtReview — is well
aware his success in the West is
one source of the tension. Next
month, the Hirshhorn Museum in
Washington, D.C., will host a retrospective of his work, “According to What?” (named after his
favorite Jasper Johns painting). It
has the distinction of being Ai’s
first major show in the U.S., and
the launch of a touring exhibition
that will hit four venues in North
America. Nearly half of the exhibit
will be new works. The rest traverses his wide range of styles —
from the vocal (saying “Fuck You,
Motherland” on film) to the tactile (etching Coca-Cola labels on
antiques) — which unite around
their common aim: China.
“Because I’m living in such an
awkward situation, I only show
my art in the West. Which is very
awkward, you know?” he says.
Ai will not be present at the
Hirshhorn opening on Oct. 7 —
the government is still holding
on to his passport with no word
on when they’ll return it. “They
said they want to give it to me but
have no clear time schedule for
that,” Ai told the New York Times
this week. But it’s the accusation
of tax fraud (a baseless one, say
Ai and his supporters) that hangs
most ominously over the artist.
Last year, approximately 30,000
people sent Ai $1.37 million in
donations directly (deposited into
his account) and creatively (yuan
notes folded into paper planes,
thrown over the wall of his studio home), enough to challenge a
$2.4 million fine against him. On
Thursday, Ai appealed, and lost,
for the second and final time. He
still refuses to pay.
“We’re not going to pay the fine
because we don’t recognize the
charge,” Ai told the Wall Street
Journal, “and I think they’re
probably too embarrassed to come
and ask for it.” Embarrassed or
not, Ai’s dogged resistance could
be the start of round two with the
government. Round one began
with his one-two punch in 2008:
First, he led a citizens’ investigation into student deaths in the
2008 Sichuan earthquake, when
the government wouldn’t release
the numbers. Ai then catalogued
the 5,385 deaths they discovered
on his blog. The number highlighted poorly built state schools,
which Ai faults for the collapse of
the buildings (“that got me into