Ai Weiwei Sculpture

Ai Weiwei recreates stolen bronzes in Brazil

The outspoken Chinese artist is showing replicas of the 12 zodiac sculptures looted from the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860

São Paulo -- Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has created set of monumental bronze heads, which are replicas of the 12 zodiac sculptures looted from the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860. The works are on show at the 29th Sao Paulo Bienal (25 September-12 December), and will travel to New York next April, before moving to Lacma and the Hirschorn. The group will be on show in London in 2012.

Weiwei hopes the work will draw attention to the ongoing issue of the loss of these heads-only seven of which have been recovered. As a result, some of the heads are largely reimagined by the artist as the only extant documentation is imprecise.
The sculptures are in an edition of six plus four and will be marketed at about $500,000 each. An edition of smaller gold-leaf works will sell for around $200,000 each.