Ai Weiwei's the Odyssey Artwork

   The Odyssey is Ai Weiwei’s a famous and successful artwork. Artist gets inspired from Epic of Odyssey. He reflects cyclic structure of history with a lot of  porcelain plates and vases. This artwork was made from acrylic paint on porcelain vases. It is attached to modernism and expressionism. While modernism was influenced in the drawings, the subjects described were explained by adhering to the current of expressionism. The artist transfers his impressions of the important global events in his own lines to porcelain vases. The artwork occurred six porcelain vases. Artist used blue color and its tones on porcelain vases. Although it is not specified where this artwork was made, it is likely that the artist made this work of art in China.

     The artist established a similarity between Odysseus' journey in antiquity and the refugee crisis that has recently affected the whole world. He uses blue colors and its tones. The blue color provides permanence to people. You can see harmony of blue and white colors on vases. The drawings are very pleasing in terms of vitality and the descriptions are very successful. Six themes become central to understanding the whole War, Ruins, the Journey, Crossing the Sea, Refugee Camps, and Demonstrations. These themes reflect the various traumas defining the refugee condition today. In stacked porcelain vases as a column, these six themes are depicted and placed within a historical context through the language of the blue and white porcelain. The artist reflected early Greek and Egyptian carving and pottery. The works’ modern nature is revealed upon closer examination, with the drawings taking and the artist’s own experiences while filming his first documentary feature, Human Flow (2017).

     When I look at successful drawings, important events that we have experienced recently have come to my mind: Syria Civil War, destruction of the ancient city of Palmyra by ISIS, refugee crisis, or refugees drowning in the sea. I think, the dragon figure on a vase represents today's Europe. In the illustration, the middle-of-the-road refugees want to take shelter in a safe port, but the dragon representing Europe does not allow them. In this artwork, I liked the drawings and descriptions very much, however the artist could use more eye-catching colors.