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Ai Weiwei is known for his political statements as made through his art. In one such piece, a picture of Weiwei completely naked with a toy horse covering his genitals, Weiwei plays upon the double meaning of Chinese characters, which many have taken to be entitled "F**k your mother, the party central committee". Another one of his pieces, depicting painted vases, is meant to comment on the Chinese governments continued decline. By painting the vases in an imperfect manner compared to the vases from the Chinese golden era, Weiwei is making a comment on how society in China has declined, and continues to do so.
Art can be a very effective way to comment on the political nature of a person or place, as shown through the works of Weiwei. Art has a way of staying with its audience in a way that words cannot. It may be the visual nature, or the creative way that the political statement is being made, but it tends to have a larger effect on its audience than a simple speech could. Any political statement made through art seems radicle, but at the same time intriguing and begs the audience to take a closer look at the discrete nature of politics and what is happening in the world. Weiwei excels in making political comments through art, because they could be interpreted as political, or they could be interpreted as just art. After he was named one of the top 100 most powerful artists of our age by an American magazine, Chinese officials declared that there were much better artists, however Americans were just caught up in his skewed political views, and thus have elevated him beyond what he deserves. This proves that the meaning behind art is really entirely in the hands of the person who looks upon it. One person may just see some crudely painted vases, or a somewhat overweight, naked Asian man, but others see the power behind the statements these pieces of art are making.