A Non Traditional Material Used by Cai Guoqiang to Make Art

"Using gunpowder brings me closer to nature and even the universe. Of course at the moment of ignition the explosion is instantaneous... but gunpowder has its origins in minerals that took hundreds, thousands or millions of years to form. "

one of 9

"This continuum of human history volition be made in a matter of seconds, in a very dramatic, revolutionary transformation. And at this moment of destruction, you create something miraculously beautiful."

two of 9

"Colors kind of distracted me. Blackness is more pure and spiritual, very emotional, but as well dangerous."

3 of 9

"Gunpowder is a textile from nature. It's explosiveness and dispersal conveys the concept of time and eternity. It is role of the free energy of the universe."

4 of ix

"Because through art, through people working together and building relationships and trust, people can overcome the problems of politics,"

5 of 9

"Art should not be a tool of politics, only sometimes fine art can help make the political climate more open and help society go more free. In my own art, I try to use my personal phonation and endeavor to enable some Chinese people to run into the possibilities of another kind of China. A more open People's republic of china."

6 of 9

"For my art there is a common theme most of the time, it is using the things we can run into, to search for the globe we cannot see,"

7 of 9

"I try to use my art equally a aqueduct of communication between man and nature; man and the universe. Who knows where this channel brings you lot?"

8 of nine

"So in art and creative expression, the things you're trying to relay, they can be total of conflict, and you do not necessarily accept to use art to resolve all these conflicts. As long every bit you acknowledge these conflicts or address the conflict in your art, that is already meaningful."

9 of nine

Summary of Cai Guo-Qiang

Rising from the ashes of Communist china's Cultural Revolution, Cai Guo-Qiang forged his manner into international art stardom as one of the first Chinese artists to expose the world to contemporary dialogues in Chinese art. Utilizing the groundbreaking mediums of gunpowder and fireworks to synthesize a new form of functioning and spectacle into the fine art-making procedure, his work is renowned for its ability to leverage tension and fear toward a common consideration of the beauty in destruction. His unique creative language, in which fine art becomes a reckless action, has catapulted him into a singular and inimitable office as one of our most innovative modern artists.

Accomplishments

• The utilise of gunpowder in Cai's piece of work carries deep significant. The material, comprised of minerals that took hundreds of thousands of years to form, has a long lineage in Chinese history equally an element of traditional Chinese medicine believed to aid make one immortal. The relationship betwixt the ephemeral and the immortal, of connecting sky to earth, is a key theme for the artist.
• Cai believes that destruction births construction - which runs in a perpetual cycle. Whether seen through the guise of the political, the spiritual, or the personal, this inherent circumvolve of life and death touches all his work, his explosive methodology condign a metaphor for this dance. As he says, "I'thou exploring the connection to unseen power."
• Spirituality, and its link between the seen and unseen worlds, is a constant source of inspiration for the creative person who delves into historical Chinese traditions such as Taoism, Buddhism, Feng Shui, Qi Gong, Confucianism, and other practices, to explore and find fodder for his work. His use of largely black and muddied monochrome color represents the purity of the undistracted spiritual.
• Cai believes that everyone is an artist. In this vein, he oft creates large-scale projects within communities that invite participation by both local artists and ordinary citizens to farther ideas of communal healing, political unity, and inspire reflections on homo's role every bit both individuals and part of a group.
• Experiencing firsthand the effects of a society falling casualty to a totalitarian government in China, Cai's work oftentimes promotes political ideas of revolution and the romance in idealism as a way to encourage people to consider ways to contribute to a more open sense of the earth.
• Cai's explosive fashion of cosmos carries along early influences of Chinese brush painting, Arte Povera, Joseph Beuy's "social sculpture," Dadaist provocation, Gutai functioning-painting, and a long history of Performance artists whose processes of making art carry as much weight equally their last pieces. But, Cai has evolved this idea of fine art making as event to an ballsy modern scale.

Biography of Cai Guo-Qiang

Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou City in the Fujian Province of Mainland china. His father Cai Ruiqin worked at a bookstore, was a collector of old books and manuscripts, and an amateur calligrapher and painter. He transmitted these early appreciations to Cai during his babyhood, especially traditional landscape painting and calligraphy, and raised his son with a religious outlook on life, combining Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucianist teachings.

Of import Art by Cai Guo-Qiang

Progression of Art

1985-89

Self-Portrait: A Subjugated Soul

The work, near two meters in elevation, portrays a dark human figure in an abstruse, ochre, monochromatic aura - as if exploding out from the canvass. The blurry experience and absence of detail denotes an ethereal presence rather than a real homo. Information technology is, every bit the title suggests, a cocky-portrait of Cai's subjugated soul. It was painted when the artist was still living in Red china, during his mid-twenties, and is an instance of his first explorations of gunpowder. For this slice, Cai mixed oil paint with gunpowder, creating both a defined and an undefined experience that results from the exploding particles.

He was drawn to the medium always since his early on childhood experiences with firecrackers. His interest also connects with various associations of the material such equally its power to harness natural forces, the fact that it is made from natural minerals, and the fact that it was traditionally used in Chinese medicine as a technique for healing (inflammation reduction and detoxification). In this regard, touching and using the material becomes a process of contact with nature, establishing a conversation and span with the natural world and spiritual dimension.

After moving to Nippon, in 1986, the gunpowder experimentations continued. It was too in Japan that he realized that the scientific developments of physics were similar to Chinese Qi Gong cosmology, and that "The theory of yin and yang is paralleled in modern astrophysics as affair and antimatter, and, in electromagnetism, the plus and minus." This agreement connected the metaphysical concepts of Taoism he had originally been brought up in, with a broader more universal conception. In this regard, sustaining these early on creations is besides of metaphysical and cosmological significance.

The painting was retouched in 1989 to further express Cai's feelings of loneliness and the subtitle, A Subjugated Soul, was added. In a way, these initial works also carry within them a sense of poetry aiming to create a connection with the larger context of life by immersing man in a spiritual awareness. The work bears strong resemblance to Giacometti'due south infamous portraits that use a similar abstract language, colour palette, and overall diffused immaterial presence. In a way, both artists aimed to capture the "vibration of life" that defined and composed homo existence, representing the self every bit an ethereal presence.

Gunpowder and oil on canvass

2004

Inopportune: Stage One

This installation featured ix Ford Taurus cars positioned in a sequence to give the effect of a single auto flipping through the air. The kickoff and the last cars sat on the ground, implying a starting time and an stop, while the others hovered, suspended by cables from the ceiling. The spectacle was strewn with lights emanating yellow, pink, fuscia, indigo, and imperial, granting the scene a colorful kaleisdoscopic effect. The installation spanned 90 meters in length.

With its theatrical components, mainly derived from Cai's studies in stage design, the work was a reflection on the psychological aspects, cultural problems, and overall political climate that defines our daily lives. In this sense, the moving car acts as a metaphor for the momentum of destruction. Information technology was role of a series of installations developed in the 2000s, where Cai explored social and political associations and meanings.

The installation also aimed to provoke a dialogue surrounding terrorist attacks, specifically the September eleven catastrophe in 2001 that profoundly affected Cai who was living and working in New York at the fourth dimension. In this perspective the car can be seen equally exploding, representing the unstable climate of terrorism and the unsetling temper information technology bestows upon the earth. "We live in a earth full of terror, of discussion and fear of terror," claimed Cai. The installation posed these considerations while framed in a shockingly vulgar beauty, which is something the artist has been criticized for, work in which vast spectacle mutes out the underlying substance.

Installation of diverse cars with lights - Seattle Fine art Museum

2004

BMoCA (Bunker Museum of Gimmicky Fine art): Everything is Museum

This picture is of an art installation by Wang Wen-chih, an artist from Taiwan, at the BMoCA () created by Cai on Kinmen Island.

The Bunker Museum of Contemporary Art was an old military center, with a long history of bombing attacks, that held special meaning for Cai, since equally a child, he used to hear the attacks from Quanzhou, a port city across the Taiwan Strait. By converting it into an art center or temporary museum space for the community, he transformed an surface area of destruction into ane of construction. Cai invited 18 artists from China and Taiwan to create site specific artworks for the infinite, also welcoming local children to collaborate. The piece of work pictured here is past the exhibiting Taiwanese artist Wang Wen-chih whose installation, created with local craftsman, consists of a bamboo tower and a network of tunnels that promote movement, integration, and meditation. Wang claims that "[his] piece of work searches for harmony subsequently catastrophe or massive destruction."

The BMoCA museum is role of a larger group of social projects begun by Cai in the 1990s, that aimed to integrate art within the community. Cai was inspired by Joseph Beuys' philosophical ideas, and the belief that "everyone is an artist." Cai so created the Everything is a Museum franchise, which transforms abandoned spaces (such equally bunkers or old pottery barns), into museums with the participation of the government and local artists. Interim as curator and organizer, Cai gives life to new cultural and artistic dialogues.

This business organization with collective lodge can besides exist seen equally a issue of Cai's investigations into Cathay'south 'cultural and political retentiveness.' Alexandra Munroe, art scholar and curator, explains that these projects embody Cai's 'utopian socialism,' reflecting "the allure of socialist retentiveness and the idea of accented faith in communitarian forces of historical progress," aspiring to "claim the public realm as a site for art of democratic empowerment."

Permanent museum at the Guningtou Cihu Great Bunker, Nanshan Fortification, Tashan Battery, Shuito Village, Kinmen Island, Taiwan

2006

Head on

Head On is an installation comprised of 99 wolf replicas caught in motility as they run in a pack into a glass wall. The wolves, in natural size, possess the vitality and sense of movement of existent life. The placement of the animals represents a perpetual cycle in which they run, leap into a disastrous obstruction, get back up, circle around, and begin all over once more.

Cai's aim was to make something that depicted a "type of collective behavior or collective heroism, tragic and brave." The wolf is a common universal mythological symbol associated with fearlessness. Since the wolf is a wild animal, information technology is also associated with danger and fear. In this context, information technology can be seen to symbolize an inherent predator nature in man and the blind confidence of commonage action. In some interpretations of the work, the wolves can besides be seen to represent humans who run blindly into their own cocky-sabotage. In this context, the piece of work gains a social, cultural, and even philosophical meaning, perceived as a critique of gild and an exposure of its senseless behaviors.

Another notorious work of this time was an installation of a dying tiger, suspended in mid-air, with arrows sticking out of its trunk, once more, evoking themes of destruction, death, and hurting, despite its dazzler.

Installation of replicas of wolves (gauze, resin and hide) of variable dimensions - Deutsche Bank Collection

2008

Footprints of History

Footprints of History was an imperceptible fine art project and visual sculptural display, developed for the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony in 2008. It was composed of 29 firework starbursts resembling giant footprints that crossed over the Beijing skyline. Some footprints wafted over and marked significant landmarks: Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, and the Huangshan Mountains to name a few. The footprints somewhen stopped at the National Olympic Stadium besides known as the Birds Nest stadium. They were fired in succession making information technology seem every bit if a behemothic was literally walking across the sky. In full, they travelled over xv kilometers during a span of 63 seconds.

The artist claims that he wanted to draw with fireworks in the sky. Merely the installation also symbolized that history had marched up to this significant moment in fourth dimension. Over 34 million people watched the ceremony and the event was broadcasted worldwide, making this Cai's best-known work. Ironically, the creative person has stated that rather than causing China to open more than to the globe, it seemed to have closed information technology more to the world after the Olympics. He garnered bully criticism for his involvement with the games, as some viewed his participation as a commercially motivated commission rather than an authentic work of its own. Cai admitted that cooperating with the Chinese authorities for this project was not easy, however argued, "Art should not be a tool of politics, but sometimes fine art can help make the political climate more than open and help lodge become more than free. In my own fine art, I try to utilise my personal voice and endeavor to enable some Chinese people to see the possibilities of another kind of Red china. A more than open China."

For Cai, art does not play a part in teaching right or wrong simply just creates space for people to reflect upon things in a new calorie-free. He claims that, "With distance people can find significant below the surface instead of taking the work at face value." Despite the idea that art can also carry political, social, and cultural associations, it is the desire to create this reflective altitude that is at a eye of Cai'southward creations.

After the opening ceremony the artist fabricated a large gunpowder cartoon, 33 meters in length and 4 in height, to commemorate the ephemeral installation in a more permanent manner.

Fireworks for 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony

2009

Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project

This site-specific pyrotechnic, imperceptible artwork entitled Fallen Blossoms: Explosion Project was created in 2009 equally a commission for the Philadelphia Museum of Fine art. The creative person envisioned a lotus-like blossom, which, through the employ of gunpowder, would bloom open during the course of a minute.

The flower, lit at dusk in front of a big audience, symbolized the creative person's exhibition at the museum entitled Hua kai hua luo, derived from a classical Chinese proverb that speaks of the grave loss when a life ends unexpectedly. In this context, the flower alludes to some of the ongoing themes developed by Cai: ideas of loss, pain, and destruction embodied and manifested through dazzler. This dichotomy and matrimony of death and life denotes the metaphysical universal significance of man questioning his own place in the world.

In another perspective, the use of explosives relates to the atomic bomb of Hiroshima, and other major homo-made catastrophes that accept occurred in the world, emphasizing violence in a political way. These dialogues, where "violent explosions" are made "beautiful," likewise reverberate that the creative person, equally he claims, is "similar an alchemist, has the power to transform sure energies, using toxicant against poisonous substance, using dirt and getting gold." In this regard, Munroe adds that "Cai's goal - to challenge, disrupt, and imbalance the center of modern and gimmicky art - is perhaps itself an 'explosion' aimed at the entrenched status quo."

His site-specific installations share strong connections with the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. They can also be seen to share affinities with the creations of Rirkrit Tiravanija, who has a profound theatrical and spatial idea of art making, every bit something that is ephemeral and that belongs to everyday life. And lastly, they relate to the theories proposed by Yves Klein that exerted a direct influence on the artist, for his conception of functioning art.

Gunpowder fuse, metallic net for gunpowder fuse and scaffolding installation

2010

Odyssey

This large painting, iii meters high and nearly l meters in length, stretches across iv walls of a room. Information technology draws inspiration from classical Chinese painting, where idealized landscapes are a central theme.

It was made with gunpowder in a complex technique developed over the course of various years, kickoff with Cai'due south time in Japan in 1985. Even so, the technique greatly evolved, and is at present a multi-phase procedure. Whereas before Cai would pigment with oil on the sheet, combining it with gunpowder in an experimental way, in these afterwards works he only uses gunpowder in a highly systematic order and methodology. Information technology involves starting time placing objects and stencil works of cardboard over a stretched large canvas on the floor that is then sprinkled with gunpowder in the negative spaces. This is then covered with large cardboard pieces, attached to fuses, weighed down with bricks to reduce the flow of oxygen, and and then ignited with a fuse, making everything blow upward. The artist claims that information technology is at this point that the work is closest to him, in a very personal and very physical way. "Before it explodes, you have admittedly no idea what it will look like," Cai explains, adding that information technology is like "experiencing fate." Cai so continues adding and exploding gunpowder at a micro scale, enhancing specific details of the work.

The imaginary mural aims to create a reflection of the artist'south relationship with the unseen world, relating to the energy of nature, his ancestors, and "with the entire galaxy and with tens of thousands of stories." In this sense, the work emphasizes the continuum of homo history, conveying the idea of a universal time and the notion of eternity.

Cai'due south work, in a way, makes reference to the Arte Povera motility, especially its attack on the fine art establishment through the formulation of a new blazon of art that is large in scale and that disregards traditional mediums, themes, traditions, and ideas. The fact that the piece of work takes up the whole infinite of the gallery room can likewise be seen to resonate with the movement that often used unconventional gallery spaces in order to explore space itself. It can besides be seen to relate to the social sculpture work of Joseph Beuys.

Gunpowder on newspaper, mounted on forest every bit 42 panel screens

2015

Sky Ladder

Sky Ladder is a 1,650-human foot (505 meters) tall ladder made from explosives. The structure is composed of a double-stranded firework connective wire suspended in the air from a hot air balloon, with horizontal wires linking the two sides, making upwards an incredibly lean and tall ladder. The one-half-kilometer staircase is lit up progressively in ruby-red tones, seeming to reach endlessly up into the darkness of night. In total, the performance lasts for 80 seconds.

The project was hard to execute. Cai conceived it in 1994 and he attempted its execution in diverse locations, all of which were unsuccessful due to bad weather, hierarchy, or condom concerns. He finally found the right location and weather condition in Huiyu Island Harbor in Fujian province, his hometown. The vision for the project was always to create a ladder that stretched all the way up to heaven, connecting "the Globe with the universe." It is dedicated to his, at the time, 100 yr quondam grandmother. Although she was in poor wellness and unable to see information technology in person, she was able to watch information technology circulate earlier passing away a month later.

The ephemeral art installation is also intrinsically linked with the idea of immortality. Gunpowder, considered to exist 1 of China'south most pregnant contributions to the world, is traditionally jump up non merely with medicine and healing, but also with the desire for immortality. Equally Cai explains, "They were really looking for an elixir to make themselves immortal." Associated with this idea of immortality is as well the concept of the transcendental, presenting an idealistic and romantic view of life. In this regard, fine art critic Ron Rosenbaum claims that Cai "really wants to pigment the heavens like Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Only with gunpowder and flame."

The process and execution of this installation is featured on the documentary, Heaven Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang, released in 2016 by Netflix.

Gunpowder fuse, metal net for gunpowder fuse and scaffolding installation - Huiyu Island Harbor, Fujian Province

2015

Seasons of Life: Summer

The painting depicts a couple intertwined in a sexual position in the middle of the canvas, and surrounded by colorful flowers. The large work, about 3 meters in height and 8 meters in length, is a representation of the blossoming of summer, greatly emphasized by the vibrant use of red, blue, and yellow, evoking emotions of bliss, happiness, and vitality. It belongs to the series Seasons of Life and is one of four big paintings, each one representing a specific season.

Overall this piece of work takes inspiration from Japanese shunga, an erotic genre of ukiyo-e woodblock prints that were popular during the Edo menses, ofttimes depicting couples in intimate positions, jubilant sexual pleasure. Although one might encounter his rare use of color on a portrait in homage of sensuality as a joyful depiction, for Cai the use of color is besides related to grief. To him, more colour is "more variation, more loneliness, more sadness . . . also as lust, desire, sex." He has also stated that blackness represents spirituality in its purest essence. In this regard, the work can be seen to correspond the conflicting and contradictory emotions experienced in the flesh, an ongoing dance between the physical and the ethereal.

In his work process, once the explosions are conducted, Cai often accentuates the pieces with painted on doodles and other more intricate details. Although in the monochromatic pieces, these additions tend to blend more than integrally with the piece of work, in this colored example, the additions are more obvious.

Gunpowder on canvass - Collection of the artist

2016

Mountain in estrus

Mount in oestrus is a painting featured in the 2017-18 exhibition The Spirit of Painting: Cai Guo-Qiang at the Prado at Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. The large work, of over two meters in elevation and four and half meters in length, depicts classical architectural Greek and Roman columns and fragments of temples, prepare against a blurred landscape. Overall, the composition creates an consequence of destruction, chaos, and transformation equally it seems to take hold of a single moment of an explosion, or a fragment of history captured in the blink of an eye.

All the piece of work for the exhibition was fabricated with gunpowder, some of which was ignited at the Salón de Reinos itself, making these site-specific works. They find inspiration in the classical artists of the Prado museum collection, especially the paintings of El Greco, who was a profound influence on Cai. Every bit a young boy, Cai'due south paintings drew heavily on El Greco's language, and in 2009 he embarked on a pilgrimage tracing dorsum the creative person's life in Venice, Madrid, and Toledo. But overall, the inspiration for these paintings is derived from the sensitivities and techniques of many Classical artists including Velazquez, Rubens, and Goya.

Each work begins with a series of sketches and in-depth research before gunpowder explosions are orchestrated for the final piece. This rooting in tradition aims to continue the dialogue and the spirit of painting as a medium, exploring Cai's ain contribution as he creates a link between classical traditions and contemporary ones.

Gunpowder on canvas - currently at the Prado, Madrid

2017

The Death of Sunflower

This piece of work is a gunpowder painting on sail depicting the life and death of a sunflower, combining all moments of the wheel into i atypical paradigm. It features the bright yellows of life succumbing to the dark grayness tones of death, evocative of the themes that are present in all of his works. Cai claims, "Destruction and structure, yin and yang, positive and negative; the free energy is ever exchanging and altering."

The piece of work is also influenced by Cai's ongoing involvement in spiritual traditions such as Chinese Taoism, Feng Shui, Qi Gong, and Buddhism. The link betwixt spirituality and fine art for Cai is always present and very clear, since for him his fine art achieves the same matter as spiritual mediums: they create a link betwixt the material world and the unseen world. By using "the things we can come across, to search for the world nosotros cannot see," Cai infuses his piece of work with an intangible dimension.

The symbol of the sunflower tin be associated with Van Gogh'due south iconic paintings. But the work tin can likewise exist seen through a more political perspective, since the sunflower is a communist symbol in China. In this sense, a parallel can be made with the piece of work of Ai Weiwei who also used sunflower seeds in his powerful and politically motivated art installation at Tate Modern in 2010.

Gunpowder on canvas or board

Similar Fine art

Influences and Connections

Influences on Artist

Influenced past Artist

• Chen Zhen

Useful Resources on Cai Guo-Qiang

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Content compiled and written past Sarah Frances Dias

Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Kimberly Nichols

"Cai Guo-Qiang Artist Overview and Analysis". [Cyberspace]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Sarah Frances Dias
Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added past Kimberly Nichols
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Kickoff published on 12 Apr 2018. Updated and modified regularly
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Source: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/cai-guo-qiang/

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