- First catalog to cover the range of materials used by Cai Guo-Qiang,
from gunpowder and paint on canvas, porcelain and silk- Covers the
artist's entire career to date- Accompanies an exhibition at the
Ashmolean Museum concluding on 19 April 2020 Cai Guo-Qiang is famous for
his work with gunpowder explosions and fireworks, with which he has
created spectacular displays in almost 30 countries, in the skies across
Asia, Europe and America. This catalog not only shows the artist's
skills and innovation in using silk, porcelain and other materials
together with gunpowder, but also how he adapts them to explore his own
central concerns of creation, destruction, chance and the cosmos.
Through gunpowder Cai has engaged with the environment in large-scale
projects and with history in site-specific ones. These and other
imaginative handlings of gunpowder sit within his work alongside the
material's best-known manifestation - fireworks. He has depicted
figurative images and human emotions with firework displays set against
day and night skies, launched from buildings and rivers, and has also
produced painterly designs on paper, canvas, silk, porcelain and, more
recently, stone and glass. Cai is perhaps most widely recognized for the
fireworks that played such a defining part in the opening ceremony of
the Beijing Olympic Games.
