Ai Weiwei
The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (b. 1957), currently under house arrest in Beijing, has achieved international renown. Study of Perspective is a series of photographs with a common composition: the artist's left arm can be seen in the foreground, making a "one-finger salute," while the background is always occupied by national monuments. The series plays on a well-known photographic exercise used to teach focusing, and at the same time demonstrates a systematic rejection of state power, regardless of whether it is exerted in democracies or in totalitarian systems.
Ai Weiwei, Study of Perspective, 1995-2011, 2014
