"Gunpowder" painting by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang is known in the art world as the “master of artistic explosion”. He plays with fire in the truest sense of the word. What is considered to be violence is transformed into beauty and masterpiece in the workshop of Cai Guo-Qiang. One of the most famous and influential contemporary Chinese artists, Cai Guo-Qiang, paints his paintings with gunpowder. To tell you the truth, his work reminded me very much of the work style of another lover of explosives - American Rosemary Fiore and her series of works “Pyrotechnics”.

Cai Guo-Qiang began working with gunpowder while living in Japan from 1986 to 1995. Having studied the properties of this material, later he began to experiment with explosives on a larger scale, creating huge canvases, using also fireworks and other pyrotechnic means. According to the author himself, he chose such a means of expression because he is familiar with it, and also because gunpowder has "great cultural significance", since it was invented in China. A symbol of violence, he played an important role in the destruction and construction of history. From here the author drew his inspiration. The Chinese artist's interest in gunpowder, for example, can also be traced back to his hometown, which is famous for producing fireworks. Cai Guo-Qiang is a real magician who can make a work of art from almost nothing. `` It doesn't matter what material you use, what really matters is how well you can use it for art '' - this is the motto of the author of the "gunpowder" works.

Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China. Studied stage design at the Shanghai Drama Institute. Cai Guo-Qiang is a participant in three Venice Biennials and won an international prize at the 1999 Venice Biennale. He has held dozens of solo exhibitions in the best halls in the world.