One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
LACMA buys work of controversial Chinese artist
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sits in the courtyard of his home in Beijing where he remains under house arrest on Nov. 7, 2010.
(
Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images
)
Ai Weiwei's 2006 sculpture "Divine Proportion" is a spherical wooden structure carefully crafted using a tenon and mortise, or nail-free joinery, technique.
(
Giovanni Tarifeño, courtesy of Friedman Benda and Ai Weiwei
)
Listen
LACMA buys work of controversial Chinese artist
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced on Monday that it’s purchased eight new pieces for its permanent collection. The pieces include a work of art by a Chinese conceptual artist, currently detained in China — by most accounts for his critique of his country’s human rights violations.
LACMA curator Franklin Sirmans urged the museum’s collector’s committee to purchase a sculpture by Ai Weiwei because of the artist’s pointed ability to question the past and the present.
Sirmans cited Ai Weiwei’s 1995 piece titled “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn.”
“He dropped a 2,000-year-old urn, completely destroying it,” Sirmans said about the piece. “This sense of how do we look at the past and the present, how do we make things new, and oftentimes, I think, it’s one of those situations where we destroy to create anew.”
LACMA purchased “Divine Proportion,” a 9-foot-tall spherical rosewood sculpture that resembles a soccer ball. The price was not disclosed.
It’s the first piece by Weiwei in LACMA’s collection. This fall, the museum will host a traveling exhibition of 12 bronze sculptures by the artist.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
