Entitled "Paradigm", the exhibition will be on display at the São Roque Gallery until July 31, and consists of 17 works inspired by freedom of expression and created by the Chinese artist and activist, who has lived in the Alentejo municipality of Montemor-o-Novo (Évora), in recent years. These are mainly porcelain works, but the exhibition also includes a new series of portraits with LEGO pieces, which the artist began using in 2014, when he worked with a playful material to produce portraits of political prisoners. In an interview with the Lusa agency, Mário Roque, owner of the São Roque Gallery, explained that Ai Weiwei "is a great collector of ceramics, as was his father", the poet Ai Qing (1910-1996), who owned pieces from "the Song dynasty", which ruled China from 960 to 1279. The artist became more interested in this art form and became "a great ceramicist, he has a perfect command of ceramics", stressed the same person in charge. "At this moment, he has interpretations of these porcelains made now, with a completely different character, because there is always an irreverence [in his work], but they could perfectly be [pieces] from the 16th or 17th century, but made by him", highlighted Mário Roque. Ai Weiwei, in statements to journalists this week, during a visit to his residence in the Alentejo, said that he was very interested "in what happened in the past" and stressed that "porcelain is the oldest human product". It is "an artificial product that has achieved a very high quality since very ancient times, perhaps since the time of the caves, and, to this day, we still use porcelain. Of course, many are replaced by plastic, but, even so, porcelain has a very special quality" and is present in many homes, he argued. Emphasizing that Chinese porcelain has always had a very high quality, the artist corroborated that this exhibition in Lisbon, "one of the smallest exhibitions ever", started from his "old interest in antiques" and the "bond of trust" that he created with Marco Roque, whose gallery he visited. "It is very ironic that we are holding an exhibition of porcelains in an antiques gallery", he considered. Mário Roque confirmed to Lusa that the exhibition "started almost as a joke", but it fits into the gallery's focus, whose initiatives "always have to do with the Discoveries and the fusion between Portuguese and foreign art objects". The Portuguese were "the first importers" of porcelain from China and, thanks to this, they caused "a revolution in European ceramics", he said. Until then, these were "always polychromatic", but "Portugal brought white and blue from China", leading Portuguese earthenware to be "bought and disseminated throughout Europe and the world". And cobalt blue was even used for Portuguese tiles, "an iconic object", which is why the fusion of cultures is clear, stressed Mário Roque. Born in Beijing, China, in 1957, Ai Weiwei has developed his work in sculptural installation, cinema, photography, ceramics, painting, writing and has exhibited in institutions and biennials all over the world. In 2023, he received the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Évora, which distinguished him for being "one of the most outstanding cultural figures of his generation, and a symbol of freedom of expression both in China and internationally", the institution stressed at the time. Read Also: Artist Ai Weiwei "chose" the Alentejo, but "forever" is a long time (Portuguese version)