Stools (2013) by Ai Weiwei (at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery LA)
Stools (2013), comprising 5,929 wooden stools from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and the Republican period, gathered from villages across northern China. The accumulation of individual stools forms a 72-foot square, creating an enormous variegated surface. Very few of these stools remain in Chinese households today, but they were once a ubiquitous staple of domestic life. Each stool reveals traces of use and evokes the experience of generations of lives. Ai Weiwei admires the stools for their simple design and solid structure, a design language that remained unchanged for thousands of years.
Stools (2013) by Ai Weiwei (at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery LA)
Stools (2013), comprising 5,929 wooden stools from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and the Republican period, gathered from villages across northern China. The accumulation of individual stools forms a 72-foot square, creating an enormous variegated surface. Very few of these stools remain in Chinese households today, but they were once a ubiquitous staple of domestic life. Each stool reveals traces of use and evokes the experience of generations of lives. Ai Weiwei admires the stools for their simple design and solid structure, a design language that remained unchanged for thousands of years.