Two Figures

Ai Weiwei intended to make three-dimensional portraits of the different aspects and tensions of Brazilian culture. He modeled the things he encountered, including the Pequi tree, native fruits, as well as people. Two Figures implicitly relates to the ostensible sexuality in Brazilian culture. Ai recalled having intense dreams while in Brazil and wanting to realize what he had conjured in his mind. Ai and a hired Brazilian model were modeled in Trancoso, Bahia, by a team of professional mold-makers from Germany. The mold-making process took around six hours for each model. The resulting molds were then cast with plaster. The installation also includes ormosia seeds, from the ormosia tree native to South America. Ai recalls his father, Ai Qing, showing him the same seeds during his childhood growing up in the Gobi Desert; Ai Qing had made a trip through South America in 1954 on the occasion of Pablo Neruda’s 50th birthday.A poem titled Xiang Si by the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei: The red beans grow in the southland / Flourish on the branches when spring comes / Would you gather an armful, I pray / For the fond love and remembrance they express.