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Ai Weiwei's Natural State exhibition opens at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park

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Friday marks the opening of what Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park is calling a “landmark exhibition.”

“Weiwei is a conceptual artist so he’s about ideas. He uses a whole series of forms and a whole series of media and materials to express his ideas.”

Joseph Antenucci Becherer is Chief Curator and Vice President of Exhibitions and Collections at Meijer Gardens.

“So, it’s not like say Monet or Rodin. That it’s always in one direction or it’s always in another direction. You know, here you have things that are porcelain flowers. You have flowers that were photographed. You have wallpaper. You have kites. You have vessels. You have sculpture. You have installations. So, however he can help basically tell a story, he’s going to gravitate towards that. So there is a great diversity in the work that’s here. You can leave the work as something that is visual and enjoyable to look at but chances are you’re going to want to dig a little bit further and understand what he’s talking about. Maybe it’s about himself. Maybe it’s about China. But ultimately, most of the work in one way or another deals with two very basic principles; freedom of speech and a concern for human rights for everyone. So, the work is basically grounded in some very important things to the human condition and he just chooses to tell the story through his own life, through China, through porcelain, through wood, through silk, through bamboo, but it’s basically about being human in the 21st Century." 

Ai Weiwei at Meijer Gardens: Natural State exhibition is open now through August 20th.

Patrick Center, WGVU News.

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.