Cai Guo-Qiang

Cai Guo-Qiang

Cai Guo-Qiang is a Chinese contemporary artist currently working in New York City.  He experiments with the use of gunpowder in art, especially in drawings.  His exploration with gunpowder on a small scale led to large-scale explosives in his artworks.  “Projects for Extraterrestrials” is a series created by Cai Guo-Qiang which uses fireworks and gunpowder on landscapes and buildings.  The explosives are used to create pictures and designs.  Project to Extend the Great Wall of China by 10,000 Meters is one work in this series, where the gunpowder and fireworks were placed in a six mile long pattern and then was lit to create the effect of extending the Great Wall.  Guo-Qiang has another series titled “Inopportune Installations”.  These installations suspend sculptures from the ceiling, such as racecars and tigers.  Each sculpture is a moment frozen in time and is very realistic.

            I think Cai Guo-Qiang’s use of explosives in his artwork is both daring and intriguing.  I like the temporary nature of the fireworks, and the fleeting moments in which they last.  I also am inspired by the large scale in which he works.  It is an impressive feat to work with famous locations and create works of art just as large and imposing.  My favorite work of Guo-Qiang’s is Head On, which is a bunch of wolf sculptures suspended from a ceiling.  They appear to be leaping towards a glass wall, and once they reach the wall they crash headfirst into it and fall to the ground.  The visual aesthetics of this piece work well and it is an impressive installation piece.