"Coca Cola Vase" - Ai Weiwei, 2011

This piece is the inspiration for the themes behind this project. By painting the ubiquitous, modern "Coca Cola" logo on an ancient Chinese vase, Weiwei asks us to compare the two worlds. Advertising can influence our thoughts and behaviors, but most of the time we do not notice it. With this work Weiwei forces viewers to confront advertising's influence, and question what kind of an effect it has on art and ourselves. The Coca-Cola logo on its own would not be thought-provoking, but when combined with the vase, both are recontextualized. This is the same sort of idea that the pieces in my work have.