PRINTCatalogue Note:
"FROM UNPREDICTABLE SPLENDOR TO ETHEREAL BEAUTY
The gunpowder drawings evolve from a practice that seeks to
conflate, collapse, and complicate distances, between the seen and unseen worlds,"" between ancient and contemporary notions of time, and between human life and natural and man-made chaos. "" – Alexandra Munroe
CONCEPTION OF THE CATHEDRAL
Nice – Church, executed in gunpowder on paper depicts the tranquil composition of the Church and its surrounding geometric structures against a simplified ground. The figurative elements of the dome-shaped Church occupies the main portion of a canvas near the foreground with great definition. The present lot parallels to Cai's symbolist tradition that synthesizes the artist's signature elements as the surrounding structures appear and disappear from the resulting reaction of the scorches, burn marks and gunpowder residue rendered by capturing the vestiges of a gunpowder explosion on paper used in executing the work. It is precisely the aspiration toward the unlimited and what cannot be contained in a single vision that defines Cai's predominant interest in the tie between the visible and the invisible. The composition of the present lot is suggestive of a transcendence of time and space while simultaneously connotative of a pure and vital energy source as the slight hint of subtle yellowish charred originating from the top left corner is reminiscent of a light source that shines upon the sanctuary Cathedral like a golden halo. The airy linear trails that diffuse and permeate in the sky further imbue the composition with a nostalgic quality.
The present lot also references a place in time as witnessed by the inclusion of the inscription alongside the title and signature. An inscription that the artist has deliberately added to the artwork further adds a narrative quality that conjured with the literati tradition of Chinese Classical ink works while the composition resonates with Cai's status as a globetrotter who has travel extensively throughout his artistic career. ""I have a lot of curiosity about unseen forces and invisible things. "" In essence, Cai critiques his perceptible peripatetic environment and subsequently embeds them in his art. More specifically, perhaps his visit to the Mediterranean 2010 at the Musee d'Art Contemporary (MAMAC) in Nice might have possibly inspired the composition of the present lot of a depiction of the tranquility and mystique of the Cathedral as the gunpowder outlines the silhouette of the structures in various intensity of vivid prominence and ridding it of any obfuscation resulting in the present lot imbued with a timeless majestic splendor. Where artist like John Cage, Chen Zhen, and the Rosicrucian rituals of Yves Klein have used smoke, fire, and burned materials as their artistic mode that introduced processes that animated and transformed the material with new formal values, Cai's distinctive manner in utilizing explosives encompass concepts of destruction and creation constituting a pure force of energy as an art form itself. More specifically, the ambiguity of its powder and challenged the destructive power of fire from a creative position in the form of art. Art is truly an explosion, and explosions become art.
TRANQUILITY OF THE CHURCH
In retrospect, Cai has produced artworks as a response to human tendency towards violence revealed in his works in response to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and seemingly never ending acts of terrorism which reflects that the world has yet to achieve lasting peace. In this regard, the present lot constitutes a playful contemplation of the dichotomy between war and peace, concepts that are integral aspects of the issues that Cai attempts to address in his works. In essence, the church has been traditionally associated with peace, creating an interesting juxtaposition with Cai's concern against the dichotomy of warfare. All the while presented through the utilization of the medium gunpowder could also be interpreted and used as a weapon. For Cai, gunpowder could be deemed as a symbol of war and violence but it was also a familiar material with which he was well acquainted with since as early as 1984 he had attempted to ignite gunpowder over an oil painting in attempts to transform it into a new work as a result of the contingency arising from the explosion. In this instance, the medium has been transformed into artistic production through the power of imagination. More precisely, gunpowder that would be used for mass destruction has been transformed to procreate works of art.
The subject matter is not without reason as Cai was born in the Fujian Province in Quanzhou City. Cai's birthplace was one if the largest ports in the world, from which Marco Polo departed in 1292 for his journey to Venice. Due to its economic ties with the rest of the world, a liberal social climate pervaded the city of Quanzhou. This openness can be observed from the diverse ethnicity of the city as Arabs from foreign lands migrated to Quanzhou to take on government posts. More importantly, Quanzhou is dotted with temples belonging to varying sects amidst the lush green hills. These religious sanctuaries were once the playgrounds of Cai who would spend his time day dreaming at these places as a child, where he was convinced of the existence of a mysterious universe parallel to his own reality by the sight of the twin pagodas and arch of the Qingjing Mosque, standing tall among low brick compounds with tiled roofs and a nearby stele engraved with Arabic texts and partially submerged in weeds. Hence, the religious and spiritual diversity of Quanzhou with the prevalence of practices such as Islam, Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, alongside Eastern all manner of colors and shapes depending on one's imagination. age. "
The gunpowder drawings evolve from a practice that seeks to
conflate, collapse, and complicate distances, between the seen and unseen worlds,"" between ancient and contemporary notions of time, and between human life and natural and man-made chaos. "" – Alexandra Munroe
CONCEPTION OF THE CATHEDRAL
Nice – Church, executed in gunpowder on paper depicts the tranquil composition of the Church and its surrounding geometric structures against a simplified ground. The figurative elements of the dome-shaped Church occupies the main portion of a canvas near the foreground with great definition. The present lot parallels to Cai's symbolist tradition that synthesizes the artist's signature elements as the surrounding structures appear and disappear from the resulting reaction of the scorches, burn marks and gunpowder residue rendered by capturing the vestiges of a gunpowder explosion on paper used in executing the work. It is precisely the aspiration toward the unlimited and what cannot be contained in a single vision that defines Cai's predominant interest in the tie between the visible and the invisible. The composition of the present lot is suggestive of a transcendence of time and space while simultaneously connotative of a pure and vital energy source as the slight hint of subtle yellowish charred originating from the top left corner is reminiscent of a light source that shines upon the sanctuary Cathedral like a golden halo. The airy linear trails that diffuse and permeate in the sky further imbue the composition with a nostalgic quality.
The present lot also references a place in time as witnessed by the inclusion of the inscription alongside the title and signature. An inscription that the artist has deliberately added to the artwork further adds a narrative quality that conjured with the literati tradition of Chinese Classical ink works while the composition resonates with Cai's status as a globetrotter who has travel extensively throughout his artistic career. ""I have a lot of curiosity about unseen forces and invisible things. "" In essence, Cai critiques his perceptible peripatetic environment and subsequently embeds them in his art. More specifically, perhaps his visit to the Mediterranean 2010 at the Musee d'Art Contemporary (MAMAC) in Nice might have possibly inspired the composition of the present lot of a depiction of the tranquility and mystique of the Cathedral as the gunpowder outlines the silhouette of the structures in various intensity of vivid prominence and ridding it of any obfuscation resulting in the present lot imbued with a timeless majestic splendor. Where artist like John Cage, Chen Zhen, and the Rosicrucian rituals of Yves Klein have used smoke, fire, and burned materials as their artistic mode that introduced processes that animated and transformed the material with new formal values, Cai's distinctive manner in utilizing explosives encompass concepts of destruction and creation constituting a pure force of energy as an art form itself. More specifically, the ambiguity of its powder and challenged the destructive power of fire from a creative position in the form of art. Art is truly an explosion, and explosions become art.
TRANQUILITY OF THE CHURCH
In retrospect, Cai has produced artworks as a response to human tendency towards violence revealed in his works in response to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and seemingly never ending acts of terrorism which reflects that the world has yet to achieve lasting peace. In this regard, the present lot constitutes a playful contemplation of the dichotomy between war and peace, concepts that are integral aspects of the issues that Cai attempts to address in his works. In essence, the church has been traditionally associated with peace, creating an interesting juxtaposition with Cai's concern against the dichotomy of warfare. All the while presented through the utilization of the medium gunpowder could also be interpreted and used as a weapon. For Cai, gunpowder could be deemed as a symbol of war and violence but it was also a familiar material with which he was well acquainted with since as early as 1984 he had attempted to ignite gunpowder over an oil painting in attempts to transform it into a new work as a result of the contingency arising from the explosion. In this instance, the medium has been transformed into artistic production through the power of imagination. More precisely, gunpowder that would be used for mass destruction has been transformed to procreate works of art.
The subject matter is not without reason as Cai was born in the Fujian Province in Quanzhou City. Cai's birthplace was one if the largest ports in the world, from which Marco Polo departed in 1292 for his journey to Venice. Due to its economic ties with the rest of the world, a liberal social climate pervaded the city of Quanzhou. This openness can be observed from the diverse ethnicity of the city as Arabs from foreign lands migrated to Quanzhou to take on government posts. More importantly, Quanzhou is dotted with temples belonging to varying sects amidst the lush green hills. These religious sanctuaries were once the playgrounds of Cai who would spend his time day dreaming at these places as a child, where he was convinced of the existence of a mysterious universe parallel to his own reality by the sight of the twin pagodas and arch of the Qingjing Mosque, standing tall among low brick compounds with tiled roofs and a nearby stele engraved with Arabic texts and partially submerged in weeds. Hence, the religious and spiritual diversity of Quanzhou with the prevalence of practices such as Islam, Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism, alongside Eastern all manner of colors and shapes depending on one's imagination. age. "