Cai Guo Qiang is the most internationally acclaimed of all contemporary Chinese artists. He was born in Quanzhou, Fujian Province in China in 1958. His father, Cai Ruiqin was a traditional brush painter and calligrapher. However, rather than follow in his father's footsteps, Cai studied stage design at the prestigious Shanghai Drama Institute. He soon emerged as a player in the experimental art world of the 1980s. 1n 1986, he received a student visa for Japan, where he spent the next nine years of his life. His experiences, there, were to have a major influence on the direction of his artwork. In 1995, after a yearlong residency at the P.S. 1 Art Centre in Queens, he made New York his base.

Cai's achievements and honors are exceptional. He was the Director of Visual and Special Effects for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics 2008. The stunning set-up of the firework footsteps from Tiananmen to the Olympic Stadium was his concept and implementation. He is the first Chinese artist to have a one-person exhibition at the renowned Guggenheim Museum in New York. The retrospective ran from February to May 2008. It then went to Beijing for the Olympic period and its next stop will be the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Cai was also the first Contemporary Chinese Artist to be honored with a solo show at a state- operated Chinese museum, when the Shanghai Art Museum held an exhibition
of his works in 2002. This followed on from the spectacular success of his fireworks display for the APEC meeting in Shanghai in 2001. He was also the first Chinese artist to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 1999.

Cai's art is complex and unique. His art is a result of his origins, his experiences, his beliefs and his sensitivities. In his work he challenges all the accepted boundaries of art making becoming famous for creating major works using explosives. Along with his Gunpowder Drawings, he is also renowned for his explosion events, which are often site-specific artistic creations. He records
moments of many of these events later in gunpowder drawings. His installations call on many icons of Chinese culture such as ancient mythology and military history to ask new questions of the modern world. Cai is also very involved in social projects where he engages entire local communities to produce art often in remote, non-art sites.

Growing up in Quanzhou, he had two major influences in his life. First was the Taoism of his grandmother. Taoism emphasizes the importance of freeing the mind and
unleashing creativity. The very essence of Taoism is embodied in the decorative arts of its temples which have pillars carved into dragons and phoenixes, magnificent ceramic storybook scenes placed on the roofs and walls, and highly ornate and intricate carvings throughout the buildings. Taoism also teaches the concept of the yin and yang, the duality of the universe. This is central to Cai's work as he often refers to his creations as linking the 'seen and unseen worlds'. He draws freely from this world of superstition, mythology and cosmology in his works. He has said that his experience of Taoism has enabled him to enter a time tunnel, to go beyond the real world of social systems and boundaries, to free himself and escape all constraints.

In contrast to this other-world of earthly escape, the second influence on him growing up was his father. His father much more reflected the values of Confucianism, which teaches moderation and personal responsibility. An accomplished traditional brush painter, calligrapher and historian, he followed all the traditions and constraints of traditional Chinese art. Cai's father
also ran the state-controlled bookstore in Quanzhou and this inadvertently contributed to the opening of Cai's mind and his need to escape constraints. The bookstore received copies of many Western books, which were banned in China at this time for distribution to party elders. Cai's father allowed him to read them quickly before passing them on. It was his first introduction to outside thinking.

Not wanting to follow the traditions and constraints of his father, Cai started questioning the whole method of creating art. At first he experimented with different painting techniques that could harness natural forces. He used a fan on paint to create typhoon effects, fire to blister it, and used a dove to walk on wet paint. However, the medium he found that would finally set him free was gunpowder. Quanzhou is the center of the fireworks industry in China. Gunpowder was everywhere around him. He immediately saw the spontaneity that it offered him, the powerful release of energy, and the unknown result of using it. It was the ideal medium to break from the suppression of a controlled artistic tradition and society.

However, to be truly free, Cai needed to escape from his society. Rejecting the idea of going to a traditional art school, he enrolled in the Shanghai Drama Institute. As part of the new avant-garde movement his early works dealt with profound subjects and often contained political comments, concerns that have remained central to his art. His first opportunity to encounter a new world was in 1986 when he went to Japan. Coming from a tightly controlled society, he embraced its intellectual openness and discussion of the Western World. However, Japanese society is tightly woven and Cai was an outsider, an alien in his new land. He now explored the properties of gunpowder and started using it extensively in his art. Through its tremendous energy, destruction would ensue, from which something new and wonderful would be created. He first began his explosion projects here culminating in his series "Projects for Extraterrestrials". These were explosion events on a grand scale, which were an attempt to engage viewers with the larger universe around them.

On moving to New York in 1995 he began to document his explosion events in gunpowder drawings. At first the drawings were abstract, conceptual pieces aimed at encapsulating the unbounded energy of his explosions. He continued to experiment with explosives and as his understanding of his material grew, he brought greater refinement to his drawings. He now started creating individual works of enormous power and beauty.

"Descending Wolves for the Guggenheim International Gala"

This atmospheric and powerful composition was created for the Guggenheim International Gala exhibition in 2006. Cai is now at the height of his powers in using gunpowder as his medium for creation. The work comprises 5 panels of rice paper on which images have been rendered using the explosive power of gunpowder. A pack of wolves are descending a mountain. For Cai, a wolf is a symbol of bravery, courage and power. A pack of wolves is an allegorical symbol of collective unity and represents heroism. After the 9/11 attacks in the USA, courageous and strong animals become prominent in Cai's works especially the wolf. The background of the picture recreates the atmospheric depth of traditional Chinese landscape painting as the wolves descend over rocks and boulders. The background is strong and resilient while the wolves seem light and ethereal as they softly descend.

Cai spends many weeks planning each of his works. On the day of creation the panels are laid out on the floor. Stencils are then laid on the panels and Cai starts to sprinkle different grades of gunpowder over the work. He uses many different grades, some of which are specially made for him. He likens the use of gunpowder as being like creating medicine, mixing various ingredients together. For him, this is like alchemy, a dialogue between the artist and unseen powers. Once the general outline has been done, the stencils are lifted and more gunpowder is tossed on and rubbed in. The stencils are then put back and Cai scatters more gunpowder. The fuses are then prepared and this process is just
as complicated as Cai cuts lines in them to slow them down. He then scatters the fuses over the gunpowder. Heavy stones are now placed on the stencils. His favorite artistic moment has now arrived, the silence between the lighting of the fuse and the detonation of the gunpowder. Cai, says this moment belongs just to the artist and the work. Once the explosion is completed, flames are doused with bundles of rags. The stencils are removed, the panels are raised and Cai assesses his completed work.

Cai uses paper as this is the medium which is most sensitive to burning, enabling the creation of a subtle range of hues capturing the momentary release of energy. In "Descending Wolves for the Guggenheim International Gala", the power and forward movement of the wolves are captured by the explosive lines of the gunpowder. Cai has said the difference between using gunpowder and paint is the capture of energy. "Descending Wolves for the Guggenheim International Gala" is alive with the energy of the wolves created through the energy of the explosion. The energy that moves through the wolves and the power direction is captured on paper. The creation is the ultimate realization of the collaborative effort of the artist's creative energy and uncontrollable force of fire.

In many ways Cai's work is rooted in Chinese tradition. The use of panels and paper, the subtle range of hues clearly seen in the work all point to traditional Chinese brush paintings. However, Cai literally explodes this tradition, destroying and at the same time creating something new, something contemporary. Through the violence of the explosion, a new beauty is born.