YOU ARE PURCHASING:
A Set of Six Banners Inspired by the Landmark Exhibition Ai Weiwei: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Artist: Ai Weiwei
Year: 2018
Medium: CNC-cut vinyl
Measurement: 17 x 48 inches
“This is a powerful series of portraits that not only embodies Ai's determination to bring attention to this urgent global issue, but also enables collectors to bring an aspect of Public Art Fund's landmark exhibition Good Fences Make Good Neighbors into their own homes,” said Public Art Fund Director & Chief Curator, Nicholas Baume. “Ai's generosity is unparalleled, and this is a unique opportunity for collectors to not only own a single work by the artist, but to own an extraordinary installation.”
Ai Weiwei chose six portraits from the original 200 presented in the landmark exhibition Good Fences Make Good Neighbors to represent their historical span, global reach, and emotional power.
Ai created Banner 2 and Banner 13 from a suite of images by Augustus Sherman, an amateur photographer and Bureau of Immigration clerk at Ellis Island. Sherman was interested in the diverse origins of the individuals he processed, so he took it upon himself to make photographic portraits of them. He used a large box camera with long exposures to document these recently arrived immigrants to the United States’ main port of immigration at the time, which processed nearly 12 million newcomers between 1892 and1954.
Banner 50 and Banner 51 depict two famous immigrants, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939, b. Pribor, Czech Republic) and Emma Goldman (1869-1940, b. Kaunas, Lithuania). Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis and one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, fled Vienna after years of working in Austria when the Nazis came to power. Fearing anti-Semitic persecution, he immigrated to London in 1938, where he remained until his death. Goldman was an anarchist and feminist political activist, who immigrated to America from Russia in 1885, but was arrested for her outspoken criticism of the US military draft and later deported back to Russia. While there, she grew increasingly critical of the Soviet Union and eventually left to live in England, Canada, and France.
Banner 90 and Banner 200 represent the contemporary images taken during Ai’s visits to 40 refugee camps. Ai and his team’s extensive research and visits to refugee camps and national borders around the world have yielded an enormous trove of compelling documentation. Much of this is produced by the artist’s nearly constant use of his cell phone to spontaneously photograph the people and scenes around him.
Ai created Banner 90 from an image taken during a visit to the Shariya Camp in Iraq, where displaced Christian, Yezidi, Shi'a Turcomen, Arab, and Shabak ethnic minority communities and religious groups have been forced to flee after being targeted by ISIS. His studio’s surveys and portraits of more than 400 people at the Shariya camp marked the beginning of Ai’s deeper involvement with the global humanitarian crisis. With the ability to travel restored, following his repression as an artist and activist in China, Ai has become increasingly involved in raising awareness for this crisis.
Banner 200 depicts a refugee from the Dadaab Camp, in Garissa County, Kenya, the world’s largest refugee camp. This camp, established in 1991, had a population of 235,269 registered refugees and asylum seekers as of January 31, 2018, far exceeding its original capacity of 90,000. The origin of these refugees is primarily from Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Citing reasons of national security, authorities have threatened to close the camp, which would displace hundreds of thousands of individuals and families, forcing many to return to war-torn Somalia.
From October 2017 to February 2018, Public Art Fund presented Ai Weiwei’s Good Fences Make Good Neighbors in all five boroughs of New York City. Inspired by the international migration crisis and current global geopolitical landscape, the exhibition transformed the security fence into a powerful social and artistic symbol. With over 300 artworks, the interventions grew out of the existing urban infrastructure, using the fabric of the city as its base and drawing attention to the role of the fence in dividing people. The exhibition included 200 individually numbered portraits of immigrants and refugees, from the nineteenth century to today, installed on lampposts across the city. Ai transformed these vinyl banners, traditionally used for advertising, into captivating works of art. He adapted historic photographs from Ellis Island, images of famous refugees, and his own contemporary portraits taken with his studio on their global travels to 40 refugee camps. Rather than printing them like conventional banner ads, each image was laser cut from industrial black vinyl, using the negative space to create a bold, two-sided image.
The edition will support Public Art Fund’s mission to provide democratic access to contemporary art by today’s most important artists, as well as a catalogue about Ai Weiwei’s recent exhibition. In addition, Public Art Fund will make a donation to USA for UNHCR to support the vital work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as well to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in recognition of their work supporting displaced people.
Banner 2 Source Image: Augustus Sherman, Algerian Man, ca. 1905-1914. Courtesy of the artist.
Banner 13 Source Image: Augustus Sherman, English-Jews, ca. 1905-1914. Courtesy of the artist.
Banner 50 Source Image: Photographer: Max Halberstadt, Date: ca. 1921, Copyright: Public Domain, Library of Congress. Courtesy of the artist.
Banner 51 Source Image: Photographer: Bain News Service, Publisher; Mug Shot, Date: 1901, Copyright: Public Domain. Courtesy of the artist.
Banner 90 Source Image: Ai Weiwei studio
Banner 200 Source Image: Ai Weiwei studio
About Ai Weiwei
Given his extraordinary life and work, Ai Weiwei stands as a unique figure on the world stage. He is both one of our most celebrated contemporary artists and one of the world’s most prominent and respected human rights and social justice activists. He has built a remarkable interdisciplinary career as a highly influential artist and cultural activist working across a variety of media including sculpture, installation, architecture, photography, and film.
About Public Art Fund
Public Art Fund is dedicated to providing free access to the most important art of our time, championing the role of artistic expression in an open society by bringing dynamic contemporary art to the broadest possible audiences across New York City.
Public Art Fund has redefined what public art is and can be through more than 450 projects that have demonstrated the power and potential of public art to transform the urban environment, engage audiences of all ages and backgrounds, and capture the imaginations of millions.
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