Heather James Fine Art has loaned Ai Weiwei’s “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold (2010)” to Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, which is on view currently.Heather James Fine Art loan is part of its ongoing mission to provide exceptional works of art to museums worldwide. This special exhibition consists of a dozen gold gilded bronze heads representing the animal symbols of the ancient Chinese zodiac.Exhibited at over 40 international venues and viewed by millions of people worldwide since the official launch of this work in New York in 2011, Ai Weiwei’s “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold (2010)” consists of two series: a monumental bronze edition for outdoor display and a smaller-scaled gold edition (made of bronze) for indoor display. The installation on view at the Farnsworth Art Museum is one of eight smaller gold gilded editions with individual sculptures measuring between 20 and 30 inches in height. The artist drew inspiration for the series from the dozen bronze animal heads originally located at the Yuanming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness), an imperial retreat of palaces and European-style gardens outside of Beijing that was built in the 18th and 19th centuries by Emperor Qianlong. At its center was an ornate fountain clock designed and engineered by two European Jesuits (Giuseppe Castiglione and Michel Benoit) that featured bronze-headed figures representing the animals of the traditional zodiac; the fountain would spout water at two-hour intervals.The exhibition is on view through December 30, 2018, at Farnsworth Art Museum, 16 Museum St, Rockland, ME 04841, USA.For details, visit: https://www.heatherjames.comClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.
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