Feishu from the Shanghajing Series from the collection Ai Weiwei MASK
Ai Weiwei
Chinese, born 1957
2020
A sky-blue disposable polypropylene face mask screenprinted with a single black, mythic creature, turning a mass-produced medical object into a compact pictorial statement about protection and cultural memory.
The mask’s industrial pleats and soft elastic frame read as familiar and utilitarian, while a finely inked, woodcut-like figure at the center—its flowing mane and lively posture—cuts across the surface, making the everyday object feel intimate and unexpectedly uncanny.
By applying screenprints to disposable masks, the work ties pandemic-era material culture to the history of printed multiples and political art, asking how ordinary manufactured objects can be repurposed to carry social and artistic meaning.
Medium
One from a series of four from a collection of twenty screenprints each on a polypropylene fabric face mask
Dimensions
Each (without elastic): 3 3/4 × 6 11/16" (9.5 × 17 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Deborah Wye Endowment Fund
Accession
367.2020.2
Palette
Exhibitions
