Ai is China’s most internationally recognized artist. He designed the “Bird’s Nest” stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics (although he later distanced himself from the project, saying he did not want to glorify China and the Olympics) and has shown his work in numerous galleries and museums around the world.
His “sunflower seeds” exhibition, which consists of more than 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds hand-painted by more than 1,000 Chinese artists, is on display at London’s Tate Museum. His acclaim makes his activism more difficult for Chinese authorities to tamp down.
