Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An exploration of the life, work and activism of China's most famous artist and dissident.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In 2011, artist and activist Ai Weiwei was arrested and charged with "damaging state security" while trying to travel outside China to prepare an exhibition of his work. When Weiwei was released, journalist Martin traveled to China to interview the artist about his experience, to inform the larger world of his treatment, to learn why he was arrested and ultimately released, and, finally, to shed light on the current state of the Chinese government itself. The interviews here succeed in conveying Ai Weiwei's physical presence, exceptional personality, and thoughts about both his detention and art practice. Martin covers a lot of ground in this brief book, including the political trajectory of China through the 20th century, contemporary art movements in the post-Mao era, and Ai Weiwei's own life. (His father was an important poet who fell out of favor with the Communist Party.) Martin has a journalist's eye for the telling detail, evident in vivid descriptions of the breakneck modernization occurring in China's cities and some wonderful interviews with other dissident artist contemporaries of Ai Weiwei. VERDICT For readers who care about the current state of Chinese civil society, as well as for those interested in contemporary art trends, this title is highly recommended.-Michael Dashkin, New York (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, the co-designer of the Beijing Olympics' celebrated Bird's Nest stadium whose international reputation blossomed with the Tate Modern's 2010 showing of the installation Sunflower Seeds, granted British journalist Martin (already an acquaintance of Ai's) an extensive multipart interview in the immediate aftermath of his 81-day detention by the Chinese government in April 2011. A still-dazed, but nevertheless expressive Ai, who remains under house arrest, describes the harrowing, absurd nature of his detention and interrogation by police and military personnel. The brutality of state power was nothing new to the artist; he grew up during the Cultural Revolution as the son of a famous poet and onetime friend of Mao, Ai Qing, who had fallen out of favor with the regime. Ai's account of his encounters with the Chinese police state comes in the same year as the memoir by poet Liao Yiwu (For a Song and a Hundred Songs)-whom Martin interviewed only a short while before Liao left China for exile in Germany. To the credit of this engaging and timely book, Martin takes care to establish the historical, political, and artistic context of Ai's work. Martin's discussion of the current mindset and political health of the Chinese Communist Party is inevitably partial, but the book serves as an excellent introduction to Ai and the power of contemporary Chinese art. 16 pages of full-color illus. Agent: Peter Bernstein, Bernstein Literary Agency. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

During a 2011 crackdown on dissidents in China, Ai Weiwei, the brilliant and courageous artist and activist who has magnetized a global Internet following, was arrested and held for 81 days. Though forbidden to speak with foreign journalists, he agreed to talk with Martin. They first met in London when Weiwei's landmark Sunflower Seeds exhibition opened at the Tate. Martin sets the scene with a brisk overview of twentieth-century Chinese history and Weiwei's family's banishment to the Gobi Desert after his renowned poet father ran afoul of Mao. He also illuminates Weiwei's ingenious, often collaborative art; pivotal role in catalyzing China's contemporary art movement; and daring, innovative activism. In the stunned aftermath of his illegal detention, Weiwei recounts his terrifying and absurd ordeal, during which, handcuffed to a chair, he explained conceptual art to his surprisingly respectful interrogators and sympathized with the impoverished and oppressed young guards. Martin's vivid and affecting portrait attests both to Weiwei's now severely restricted circumstances and his undiminished spirit and conviction as an artist of conscience and a resounding champion for freedom and democracy, responsibility and justice.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A British journalist with considerable experience in China illuminates the significance of artist and activist Ai Weiwei and his embodiment of cultural upheaval. In a good way, this reads like an extended magazine article written for a general readership. Martin presents a profile of the artist based on illicit interviews with Weiwei following his release from 81 days of imprisonment on inscrutable charges, while providing context on the political and cultural developments that have informed his art. The plainspoken lucidity of the prose transcends the murk of so much arts criticism and political theorizing, as the author recognizes that many readers won't be familiar with the artist's career and the specifics of Communist Party repression in China. "I had been toying with the idea of writing a book about modern China that would use an account of Ai Weiwei's life as its backbone," writes Martin, employing the first-person narrative that initially seems intrusive but ultimately enhances the conversational tone. "His life and that of his father, Ai Qing, one of China's most famous twentieth-century poets, are so intertwined with the great people and events of modern Chinese history that any biographical account would necessarily touch on the main historical events of the post-imperial epoch." And so this book does, though it is less than a full-scale biography and more of a series of interviews, with the secret police frequently hovering, augmented by the author's visits with other Chinese dissidents. Weiwei emerges as not only a great disciple of Duchamp and Dada, bridging the totalitarianism of Chairman Mao and Warhol's Mao, but also a brave activist using his art and advocacy to inspire cultural revolution: "Weiwei's experience had given him an almost evangelical zeal: he wanted to change China by changing its ideas about art." A book that offers great clarity on an important subject without succumbing to oversimplification.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Barnaby Martin grew up in Oxford and has lived in the USA, France, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Scandinavia and Kenya. He has written novels, poems and plays and is a regular contributor to various publications, including the Financial Times .

Barnaby Martin is also a regular speaker on the subject of art and has most recently spoken at the Venice Biennale about Chinese contemporary art. His book Hanging Man: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei was described by the Literary Review as 'invaluable'.