His name is Cai Guoqiang (蔡国强） — my favorite contemporary Chinese-born artist. As a bold originator of new art forms Cai has received global recognition for his talent.
I remember when I first heard of him with his gunpowder drawings, I immediately felt a close tie. At least, as Chinese, we all love fireworks during Chinese New Year. Reading the book Cai guo-Qiang by Munroe (AMZN: http://amzn.com/0892073713) helped me to know how Cai through the last 20 years has experimented with gunpowder and transformed this material, one of the Chinese oldest inventions, into an art form. A transformation which makes me further appreciate the creative spirit at work in an artist in full mastery of their medium. As commented by Alexandra Munroe “Cai uses explosive to manifest the pure force of energy, not as a means to art but as an art form itself.”
My first encounter with Cai’s art however was uniquely odd. It was July 3rd, 2006, at 12:00 noon precisely, on the roof of Metropolitan Museum. There supposed to be a black cloud of smoke appearing above the Museum’s Roof Garden. A single shot of gunpowder. Poof. Black Cloud. That was the expectation as I stood among a modest group of forty or so, stretching my neck, staring into the sky and afraid to blink for fear of missing the expected event. The clear blue sky above NY on that day was beautiful but it was hot, bright and the direct sun made it almost impossible to catch a spot in this spotless sky! Minutes later, whispers started “ have you see any thing?” “I think I saw it!” ”where? where”? “Heard the gun fired?” “There! There!” “well, I don’t think I saw it”. As you can picture, most of us were very unfortunate and disappointed. “That’s it?!” was my reaction. Years later, I realize that this scene on the roof of Met sticks in my mind, maybe because I missed that black cloud, maybe because I had never looked into NY’s sky, or any other sky in such a concentrated way, it was an unforgettable few minutes that Cai created through interacting with his viewers in such an intense way. Yes, it was intense. At that time I would’ve never imagined that when I saw Cai’s art again, it would be a CRASH……
To know more about the artist, see Cai GuoQiang’s website.
Photos below:
1) Cai looking toward Manhattan, April 20, 1996.
2) Creation of gunpowder drawing Black Fireworks, 2005 (both photos from the book by Munroe)
3) Transparent Monument.
4) Move Along, Nothing to See Here (both are installations from “On the Roof” for Met, 2006)
A Chinese Docent 