Thursday, August 22, 2013

Zodiac heads

Ai Weiwei *1957, Dragon head 2010, 
one of twelve bronze animal heads of the Chinese zodiac on exhibition, Cleveland, O.
Cleveland Art Museum maintains a firm policy on NOT allowing photographs of contemporary works, and visiting works. These dozen bronze animal heads by the human rights activist and artist Ai Weiwei are not under that stricture. Beyond that, the museum requests people to send images of people standing next to them. Except for very tall people, one can stand directly beneath the heads. They are openly encouraging photographic interaction.

I thought, incorrectly, that one (or more heads) was (were) more popular than the others because of aesthetic reasons. I approached, the very friendly volunteer at the desk, and she said some people had come in with a favorite animal prior to seeing these, and most people wanted to take a picture with the totemic animal matching their birth.

These are mostly realistic in depiction, with veins in the ears visible in some. Most whiskers are absent, while their pores are distinct. Many of the animals have many beyond a full set of similar teeth, except for the snake which along with fangs has irregular razor like teeth. The snake looks like an extra-terrestrial movie lizardman.
she is reviewing her photography

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