Weiwei said he enjoys putting work and craftsmanship into useless objects. And if people doubt his work, he responds saying he’s allowed to do what he does, because he’s an artist. He’s not pretentious in his self reassurance, he’s just confident in defending his work. The pieces of his that I find most remarkable are these wooden polyhedra made using no nails. He says it took his carpenters a year to figure out how to make them.
Artists seem to prefer defying expectations. Louise Bourgeois does so with pieces installed next to a skyscraper. She created small and discreet sculptures that do not rival the building’s stature which makes them very sensitive and personal in comparison. They are also very delicate which puts them at risk of vandalism, but she puts them in the open outdoor space as an experimental leap of faith.
Maya Lin was to become a zoologist before she fell into the art world. She has always been an environmental activist, and shares those beliefs now in her work. I like that she uses mapping technology to create some of her pieces; it seems pretty unique. Her pieces are made by a machine and then “hand-worn.”