Entire worlds can be built using Lego building blocks, but Ai Weiwei took things to the next level by recreating Monet's iconic Water Lilies (1914–26) triptych. The monumental undertaking was displayed at the Design Museum in London. However, it took 650,000 Lego bricks in 22 colors to make, reaching almost 15 meters in length.
The result is what the museum calls “a depersonalized language of industrial parts and colors”, with Lego more suggestive of the pixels through which we often engage with art today, be it digital work or a photograph shared online.
The artist added his own touch to the centuries-old composition, inserting a “dark portal” on the right side that leads to the underground shelter that Ai shared with his father when his family was in exile in Xinjiang during the 1960s.
“Our world is complex and collapsing towards an unpredictable future. It is crucial that individuals find a personalized language to express their experience in these challenging conditions,” said Ai Weiwei in a statement. “Without a personal narrative, artistic narration loses its quality.”
“Ai Weiwei: Making Sense” is the first exhibition dedicated to Ai's focus on design and architecture specifically. Opens at London's Design Museum on April 7 featuring some of the artist's most recognizable works alongside a series of five new "camps" filled with objects he made or collected. It runs until July 30th.