Ai Weiwei, Wang Xingwei, and Ding Yi

Created for the exhibition PERSONA₃, the three works offered as Lot 151 can best be considered a cooperative work of conceptual art, the idea behind which has until now remained a closely guarded secret.  Ai Weiwei, Ding Yi, and Wang Xingwei conceived of this remarkable project as a way to commemorate their friend Hans van Dijk, a beloved Chinese art scholar who died in Beijing in April 2002, having lived in China since 1986.  Through his New Amsterdam Art Consultancy in Beijing and his later work as co-founder (with Frank Uytterhaegen and Ai Weiwei) of China Art Archives & Warehouse and the China Modern Art Foundation, Mr. van Dijk was instrumental in bringing contemporary Chinese art to the attention of an international audience, in providing opportunities for artists domestically, and in documenting the contemporary art movement.  

Ai Weiwei, Ding Yi, and Wang Xingwei, close friends with strong ties to Mr. van Dijk (the latter two artists were selected by Mr. van Dijk for the gallery), determined to create an exhibition in his memory.  It was a serious undertaking:  to honor him in his sagacious wit, understanding, and sincerity, such an exhibition would have to rise above usual standards to be a true, pure art activity.  They conceived of the exhibition PERSONA₃ as the kind of biting art action that Mr. van Dijk would appreciate, revealing truths about the art world to people willing to expend the effort to understand.  (In a similar spirit, Mr. van Dijk had aided the artists Yan Lei and Hong Hao in carrying out their infamous Invitation project hoax, a response to the absence of Chinese artists in Documenta X of 1997.)

Mature artists with widely recognized signature styles, Ai Weiwei, Ding Yi, and Wang Xingwei resolved to turn the iconic nature of each unique body of work on its head.  Each artist would produce works of art to be exhibited as the creations of the others.  This exercise required serious stretching of both artistic imagination and technical skills, and it was bought off with great aplomb.

For the preceding sixteen years, Ding Yi had worked on one series of paintings, Appearance of Crosses, all composed entirely of rows of repeated cross forms.  Although Ding had never created lasting sculptural works, Ai Weiwei translated his two-dimensional practice into three dimensions:  regular, repeated cross forms puncture a sheet of steel to produce a work titled (of course) Appearance of Crosses.  Ding Yi, having long ago abandoned his early training in representational painting, rekindled those skills to paint Morning in New Shanghai in the manner of Wang Xingwei, executed on corrugated board similar to that often employed by the latter artist.  In turn, Wang Xingwei sought out the best carpenters in Shanghai to craft Long Ring Tea-Table in the manner of Ai Weiwei.  As a connoisseur of antique furniture, including woods and joinery techniques, Ai Weiwei has deployed this knowledge in the creation of a series of works, a subset of which are furniture items redesigned so as to void their functionality:  Wang’s Long Ring Tea-Table is just such a non-functional table.  Believing the work’s craftsmanship did not live up to Ai Weiwei’s exacting standards, Wang Xingwei had the piece remade before he was satisfied.

Each artist worked in great secrecy, revealing the works to one another only immediately prior to installation in the exhibition.  It was a challenge among the three artists, to fathom the depths of each other’s artistic approach, and then to capture that spirit in concrete form.  As Ai Weiwei describes the long-anticipated moment when they revealed their work to one another, they were all terribly moved, even commenting that others had captured their style even better than they could manage themselves.

For those who considered PERSONA₃ carefully, there were numerous hints as to the nature of the project.  First, one might have noticed stylistic incongruities inherent in the works themselves, for example, Ding Yi’s piecing together sections of corrugated board as he habitually pieced together the sections in his own composite works, or the use of new wood rather than old in the “Ai Weiwei” table.  Second, the exhibition title also invited scrutiny:  an investigation would lead to an essay published by the China Art Archives & Warehouse at the time of the exhibition entitled “PERSONA₃:  A Project by Ai Weiwei, Ding Yi, and Wang Xingwei…and the Artist Found the Ring of Gyges.”  While the author, Beatrice Leanza, did not spell out the exact situation, she cited the Jungian notion of the persona as the outer mask one displays to the world at large.  The “Ring of Gyges” is a reference to a tale told in Plato’s Republic of a magic ring that could make its possessor invisible.  Following a highly intellectualized and obtuse discussion of persona, Leanza stated, “PERSONA₃ is an attempt to gambol with the steadiness of artistic dependence on conventional imprimaturs, and performed by misleading reciprocation of stylistic quotations.”  For anyone able to read the hints and extract that statement from its dense surroundings, the truth might become visible.