
Cai Guo-Qiang
Chinese Painter, Installation, and Performance Artist
Movements and Styles: Postmodernism, Installation Art, Conceptual Art, Land Art, Performance Art
Born: December 8, 1957 - Quanzhou, Fujian, China

"Using gunpowder brings me closer to nature and even the universe. Of course at the moment of ignition the explosion is instantaneous... but gunpowder has its origins in minerals that took hundreds, thousands or millions of years to form. "
Summary
Rising from the ashes of China's Cultural Revolution, Cai Guo-Qiang forged his way into international art stardom as one of the first Chinese artists to expose the world to contemporary dialogues in Chinese art. Utilizing the groundbreaking mediums of gunpowder and fireworks to synthesize a new form of performance and spectacle into the art-making process, his work is renowned for its ability to leverage tension and fear toward a common consideration of the beauty in destruction. His unique artistic language, in which art becomes a reckless action, has catapulted him into a singular and inimitable role as one of our most innovative modern artists.
Key Ideas

Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou City in the Fujian Province of China. His father Cai Ruiqin worked at a bookstore, was a collector of old books and manuscripts, and an amateur calligrapher and painter. He transmitted these early appreciations to Cai during his childhood, especially traditional landscape painting and calligraphy, and raised his son with a religious outlook on life, combining Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucianist teachings.
Influences and Connections


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Influences on Artist


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Content compiled and written by Sarah Frances Dias
Edited and revised, with Synopsis and Key Ideas added by Kimberly Nichols
" Artist Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Sarah Frances Dias
Edited and revised, with Synopsis and Key Ideas added by Kimberly Nichols
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