Contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has announced a highly anticipated collaboration with Avant Arte, launching a new limited-edition sculpture collection that merges ancient craftsmanship with modern artistic vision. The partnership will release "Coloured Vase, 2025," featuring five time-limited sculpture editions exclusively available on avantarte.com for just seven days, beginning August 28, 2025.
This latest collection serves as a follow-up to Weiwei's iconic Glass Vase released in 2023, expanding the artist's exploration of traditional forms through contemporary materials. The new edition features five distinct colorways: red, blue, green, silver, and gold. Each metal vase sculpture undergoes a meticulous production process, including polishing, nickel-plating, and a tinted lacquer finish to achieve its final color and distinctive texture. The sculptures are created through close collaboration with the artist using a highly skilled metal spinning technique.
The sculptures measure 21 centimeters in height and 23 centimeters in both length and width, with each piece featuring an engraved signature and edition number on the bottom for authenticity. The exclusive seven-day purchasing window will open at 2 PM BST on August 28, 2025, through avantarte.com. Each "Coloured Vase" will be priced at £1,300.00, or approximately $1,500.00, with free worldwide shipping included.
This artwork represents Weiwei's continued exploration of the collision between Western commodity culture and Chinese traditional mastery, serving as part of his Duchamp-inspired Readymades series. The artist has repeatedly incorporated ancient Chinese pottery into his provocative works throughout his career, most famously destroying a precious Han Dynasty Urn in his groundbreaking 1995 performance piece. He has similarly transformed other ceramic sculptures by adorning them with logos that represent contemporary capitalism and consumer culture.
By juxtaposing ancient traditions with modern commercialization, this artwork challenges viewers to question how society determines value and worth. The piece continues Weiwei's ongoing dialogue about cultural heritage, globalization, and the commodification of art in the contemporary world.
Born in Beijing in 1957, Ai Weiwei currently lives and works between Cambridge, Lisbon, and Berlin. His formative years during China's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 70s significantly shaped his artistic vision and activist stance. His father, an influential poet, faced persecution during this period, leading to their forced relocation to the Gurbantünggüt Desert in northwestern China. This experience profoundly influenced Weiwei's commitment to activism and his artistic practice focused on truth and justice.
Weiwei works across multiple media, seamlessly moving between sculpture, architecture, performance art, and documentary film. His works are often monumental in scale and consistently driven by his pursuit of truth and social justice, frequently incorporating his personal life experiences and political commentary. His internationally acclaimed pieces are held in the collections of major institutions worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the Tate, among numerous other prestigious galleries and museums.
