Cai Guo-Qiang is perhaps the most international of contemporary Chinese artists. His exhibitions and projects always arouse global attentions. He is very accomplished in creating the most avant-garde contemporary art by using traditional Chinese elements such as gunpowder, porcelain, Chinese herbal medicine, kites, bamboo rafts, and Fengshui. He grew up in a period which allowed him to develop a rebellious streak, and for all his life as an artist he has dared to act beyond other's limitations. His art concepts are so extraordinary that they seem almost like impossible missions. He was born to be a counter-reactionary, and he has never been afraid of putting forward the convention-overthrowing art creations to the public. In particular, he chooses hard-to-control and dangerous gunpowder as the main media material for his art creations arousing the great awareness.

Historical events are the products of man's creation. Cai Guo-Qiang's oeuvre has to do with the idea of a trace as an episode in history, as a print on reality. The object of the 'Project for Extraterrestrials No. 8: Reviving the Ancient Signal Towers (4)' was to revive the ancient signal towers. In ancient China, a method was devised for sending messages to distant places with signal fires instead of using messengers on horseback. This project, done in 1990, used the semaphores abandoned along the Silk Road and revived the blazing beacons using gunpowder. The present lot is a clean and clear depiction for Cai's aim of 'Project for Extraterrestrials No. 8: Reviving the Ancient Signal Towers (4)'. The flame seems to come off from the bottom of the paper signifying the burning flicker from the signal tower. The message of co-habitation with nature - rather than a plunder or power struggle - directed to the universe transcends the difference between eras by employing the transmission methods of both ancient and modern humans.

Fascinated by the idea of change, and especially with notions of opposition and conflicts, Cai invariably makes reference to a potential dialogue between microcosm and macrocosm. His art is complex and unique. It 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 and is well-known for creating major works using explosives. His installations call on many icons of Chinese culture such as ancient mythology and military history to ask new questions of the modern world.