PRINTPROVENANCE:
Collection of Hiromu and Yoko Muchi, Japan
ILLUSTRATED:
Gunpowder Picture of Cai Guoqiang, Lijiang Publishing House, Guilin, 1989, color illustrated, p. 21
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Solar Eclipse
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1988 Gunpowder and oil on canvas 32 x 40 cm Signed lower right Cai in English |
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Estimate
2,400,000 - 3,600,000 585,000 - 878,000 76,600 - 114,800
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Sold Price
2,280,000 587,629 75,622
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Collection of Hiromu and Yoko Muchi, Japan
Gunpowder Picture of Cai Guoqiang, Lijiang Publishing House, Guilin, 1989, color illustrated, p. 21
Catalogue Note:
Cai Guo-Qiang's international reputation among all cotemporary Chinese artists is well acknowledged. His artworks root in Chinese traditions yet subvert it at the same time. He uses gunpowder - a symbolic Chinese culture element - as a drawing medium, integrated with his unique universe perspectives and philosophies, to explore the perception of human history and the shared concerns of our society.
"Gunpowder" drawing is Cai's most stunning and original artistic creation. The artist is obsessed with the dangerous yet free vitality of gunpowder; he seeks liberation from the closed traditional Chinese society through his exploring of such destructive explosion of gunpowder. Cai once said: Gunpowder is a spontaneous, unpredictable and uncontrollable medium. The more you want to control it, the less control you are likely to get. The result of the creation is always hard to predict, and this just happens to be the most fascinating part…to explore the spirit of the gunpowder, I believe it bears the power of the universe; the answers to where we come from, where the universe comes from and discussion of the chaos, all originate from the Big Bang, the explosion.
"Solar Eclipse", Cai Guo-Qiang's early piece of work, was finished in 1988. Eclipse is the moment when the "Yin" meets the "Yang", one rises while the other drops, one goes up while the other goes down; this spectacular astronomical phenomena has been feared and worshiped by human being for thousands of years. The artist has created an amazing smudged effect of light and shadow using the special features of gunpowder; meanwhile, the treatment of "Liubai" (traditional Chinese painting skill of leaving appropriate blank spaces) creates poetic beauty of Chinese traditional literati paintings. Cai's works always carry an attraction of mystery, or a sense of supernatural subversion, which leads the audiences to the infinite universe to discover the mysteries.