 n exhibition of Ai Weiwei’s unpublished photographs: ''Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993'' will open in the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre this January. The pieces in this exhibition were chosen from a collection of over 10,000 photographs that capture the history, culture, and atmosphere of 1980s New York from Ai Weiwei’s perspective on art and society.
As he recalled on his New York photographs:
These photos were taken between 1983 and 1994 during the decade I spent living in New York before returning to Beijing. At that time, I didn’t really have anything to do. I was just hanging out, whiling away my time everyday by taking pictures of the people I met, places I went, my friends, my neighborhood, the street and the city.
In a flash twenty years have passed, and the New York I knew no longer exists. The appearance of the East Village has totally changed, and many of the people in my photographs are no longer in this world. I took these photos casually, and most of my subjects probably don't even realize that they are in them. Today, looking back on the past, I can see that these photographs are facts, but not necessarily true. After all, any reality is just a factor of change – an unconfirmed moment in the slow march of time. The present always surpasses the past, and the future will not care about today.
''Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993'' will be on view through April 2009 at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre. Click here to learn more.
Below are part of images from the exhibition (offered by Ai Weiwei and the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre):
In front of Duchamp's work, Museum of Modern Art 1987
Union Square Subway Station 1987
Dress Rehearsal for Turnadot at the Metropolitan Opera 1987
Tan Dun. East 3rd Street Apartment 1986
Chen Yifei at his Upper East Side Apartment 1987
Chen Kaige. Lower East Side 1986
Gu Changwei. Chinese New Years on Mott Street 1989
Hsieh Tehching 1988
Wang Keping & Ai Weiwei 1987
Hu Yongyan 1986
Profile of Duchamp, Sunflower Seeds
Bleeding Protestor. Tompkins Square Park Riots 1988
Feng Xiaogang 1993
Bill Clinton at his last campaign stop in New York 1992
Preacher Reading Bible to man on the street 1990
Feng Xiaogang 1992
Liu Xiaodong & Yu Hong 1993
A Jewish Family
Homeless near Cooper Union
Lower East Side Restaurant
Mirror
Portrait_with_Profile
Robert Frank & Allen Ginsberg
Self-Portrait
Ai Weiwei
From Left to Right: Rong Rong, Ai Weiwei, Inri
At the Exhibition Scene
At the Exhibition Scene
At the Exhibition Scene
At the Exhibition Scene
At the Exhibition Scene
Related Links:
·Artist Profile: Ai Weiwei
·An Interview with Ai Weiwei
·The Clown Scholar: Ai Weiwei
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