Behind the scenes
Master print-maker Tom Murphy speaks about the process behind our latest collaborationLimited edition of 20
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This new collaboration with Ai Weiwei is a rare edition of just 20 unique pieces, split across four distinct colourways.
Since acquiring 30 tonnes of buttons from a South London factory in 2019, Ai Weiwei has returned repeatedly to the humble object, becoming a central motif in his practice. Now the subject of his exhibition Button Up! at Factory International, buttons have evolved into a potent symbol of identity, power, and resistance for the artist, testament to his unparalleled ability to charge everyday objects with cultural and political meaning.
Created in close collaboration with the artist at our London print house, Make-Ready, this edition translates the original work, made from real buttons, through a first-of-its-kind 49-layer archival pigment process with high-gloss varnish. Printed on French-sized fine linen and mounted on aluminium Dibond, the piece preserves the depth and sculptural presence of the original.
Ai Weiwei31 collaborationsAi Weiwei is unafraid to speak truth to power. He’s one of the most famous living artists today – a testament to the breadth and vision of his practice. Effortlessly, he moves between different media, from sculpture and architecture to performance and documentary film. His work is often monumental in scale and is driven by a hunger for truth and justice. In 2008, for example, Ai spent many months collecting the names of over 5000 children who lost their lives in the Sichuan earthquake. This unflinching dedication to human rights saw him detained by the Chinese government for 81 days in 2011, accused of ‘subverting the state.’
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