Cai Guo-Qiang: Explosive Earth Art

Conceptually and visually, Cai’s focus is ultimately the universe that surrounds us: its birth, existence, and destruction. Such themes have has a continuous, cyclical presence in his production over the last twenty years. “Large gun-powder drawings, which depict, in turn, natural forces, fantasy flying machines, and past projects swirling around a galaxy.”

He is a transnational artist, drawing on Chinese and Western artistic traditions but embracing a futuristic vision. His work spans the media of drawing, sculpture, and theater. It is intimate but can be experienced simultaneously by thousands of people. Reconceiving techniques that have been used for centuries, Cai has invented a new way to be a totally contemporary artist. His work has an abstract structure but often encompassses a narrative, telling a stroy or rendering an impression of a landscape or natural experience. It revisits traditional myths and parables through contemporary artistic forms. Chinese philosophy is filtered through the structures of conceptual art to create a unique intellectual armature that shapes the perception of the work.

Cai applies Chinese artistic traditions to the innovations of Land art, using the elements of earth, air, fire, and water in unexpected ways. He has invented a unique approach to exploit these basic natural materials as artistic media. 

In March 2012, seven hundred people were invited to witness the three gunpowder drawings that Cai created for MOCA exhibition. The astonishing spectacle demonstrated the artist’s extraditionary fusion of theatre, drawing, and live sculpture. 

From his work, you can see the high contrast between fire, exploration and the delicate paper material, as well as the patient preparation. It is a powerful drawing of natural forces. 

The engagement with community also plays an important role in his practice.The production of those gun-powder drawings involve studio team, fireworks experts, volunteers and local fire department. It was always a group project, not an isolated individual effort. The work is not static but experimental. The explosion events are shared experiences. His work is made with basic natural elements, but it transcends the material to enter the immaterial. 

Reference: Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974, MOCA. His work has been influenced by and often discussed within the context of the artists Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer, and Dennis Oppenheim; all explore physical mark making upon the landscape.