Ai Weiwei does ‘Gangnam Style’ (VIDEO)
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei waits for his lawyer to return from a court hearing at his compound in Beijing on July 20, 2012.
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has had a tough few years, but he hasn’t lost his sense of humor.
Ai, who has been fighting charges of tax evasion, made a parody of the South Korean pop hit “Gangnam Style,” which has been posted on YouTube.
More from GlobalPost: Ai Weiwei's design license revoked
Wearing a bright pink T-shirt under a black jacket, the pudgy artist dances around his Beijing studio with friends and employees to the audio of the catchy song, Time magazine reported.
Some shots from the original video by South Korean rapper Psy have been spliced into the parody, which also shows Ai dancing with handcuffs.
The handcuffs, which at one point Ai uses to attach himself to another man, may be a reference to the three months he spent in jail without charge last year or ongoing attempts to silence the outspoken government critic.
Despite being barred from leaving China, Ai has maintained a strong presence on the international stage.
Earlier this month, Art Review magazine named Ai as one of the 100 most influential figures in the art world.
A retrospective exhibition of Ai’s work also opened at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum in Washington.
Ai, of course, missed the opening.
More from GlobalPost: Gangnam style comes to the UN (VIDEO)
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!