“Wooden Ball” is part of the work of Ai Weiwei’s “Divina Proportione”.  Created in 2004, the series has 9 different sizes and materials, including rosewood, stain and copper, etc.  Prior to the creation of the series, Ai Weiwei produced artworks transformed from traditional Chinese architecture and furniture, such as the representative work “Map of China”, “Fragment”, and the recent work “Wang Family Ancestral Hall” and so on.

The idea of Ai Weiwei’s “Wooden Ball” originated from a plastic ball toy belonging to his cat in his workshop. Each of these abstract-and-simple-looking wooden balls is enlarged in the Chinese traditional furniture’s way of production and constructed by the complex intricate joining methods. Each wooden ball took one year time in making, which was spent in exploring the ideal relationship of each component structure to demonstrate the perfect relationship between its shape and ratio, structure and texture. The artworks are made and constructed in an organized way, combining the classic geometric pattern together with Chinese traditional furniture craftsmanship. Reforming their physical pattern, Ai Weiwei has granted the wooden balls with the attribute and meaning of ambiguity and weirdness to present a fleeting and uncertain sense.

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