Cai Guo Qiang

                       Cai Guo-Qiang who was born in 1957 in Guanzhou city, China is a contemporary artist and curator and he works in New York.   After watching his interview in Art 21 website, I have to say Cai’s artwork is “dangerous” but very surprising and impressive. He uses the poppy flower to describe his work since it is a poison but it also has its attractive and romantic sides. Cai always likes to use an explosive substance — gunpowder to create his drawings. Gunpowder, as we know is full of danger and uncontrollable; therefore, Cai and his group have to know it very well and also use it carefully during their work.   The whole process of creating a drawing with the gunpowder is long and needs to be cautious. First of all, Cai would draw the shape of the object on a paper and cut it out and lay it down on the lager paper or a long scroll.  He would sprinkle some gunpowder and yellow pigment powder on the image.  Then, the group would use some paper, cardboard to cover the artwork and use some stones to fix it. The final step is the most important step --make the gunpowder explode.  The result of the explosion sometimes is a great satisfaction but sometimes it is a disappointment for the entire group. However, in his projects, Cai successfully harnesses the explosive power of gunpowder to create his own special artwork style. The explosion of gunpowder just likes a metaphor for the September 11 event. The artist is trying to make those violent explosions beautiful. I really like what Cai said in the interview, “the artist, like an alchemist, has the ability to transform certain energies…and the art is not about what you say, it’s about these other things that you don’t say.” 

 In fact, Cai’s work is inspired by his interest in traditional Chinese culture and everyday life, and at the time, his father who was an artist also influenced him a lot.  Cai draws on lots of different materials, elements of fengshui, symbols, images of tigers and dragons, Chinese medicine and philosophy and gunpowder and so on.  In his work, Cai tries to explore pain, tragedy, and the meaning of terrorism in the world and express his ideas and emotions through abstract images and powerful objects.  Also, he likes to use strong visual impact to let people feel pain, and meanwhile, his projects reflect social issues today.