Like a dead and decaying sentinel presiding over the landscape of the Pappajohn Sculpture Park, Ai Weiwei’s heavy, rusted, imposing form of a tree trunk stands guard while telling a vivid story. Iron Tree Trunk (2015) is a cast of a tree from Jiangxi Province in China. Standing sixteen feet high, 3 feet in diameter, and weighing over 3,500 pounds, its overwhelming size is countered by small nuances and details, such as cracks in the bark, growth rings around the base, and the stubs of broken limbs. The work references both the Chinese cultural tradition of finding poetry and contemplation in natural phenomena, such as a rock or tree, and the challenges inherent in China’s rush to industrialization. Ai’s use of iron refers to the tumultuous period in Chinese history called “The Great Leap Forward,” when families were encouraged to make steel in their homes to help industrialize the country. Most of it became unstable “pig iron,” as the ability to make steel in a home setting was difficult. The results were catastrophic, resulting in poor quality iron, adverse health issues, and ecological devastation. This poorly thought-out endeavor is highlighted here in a poetic form reminiscent of a Gongshi, or scholar’s rock, in which thoughtful observers find exquisite beauty and meaning in a common natural form. Thus, the tree exemplifies the tension between the new industrial China and traditional Chinese culture. 

Ai was born in Beijing but spent his childhood in the far northeastern areas of Dongbei and Xinjiang where his father, a noted poet, was “re-educated” during China’s Cultural Revolution. Ai lived and studied in New York City from 1981 to 1993, when he returned to China and established a studio near Beijing. There, he founded or cofounded several artists groups and began working in a variety of media, even architecture. His art is often politically or socially charged, and he has been openly critical of China’s human rights record — so much so that the Chinese government arrested him in April 2011, secretly detained him without formal charges for three months, and had him under constant surveillance until he left the country. He now maintains studios around the world.