cultural melting bath: project for the 20th century 1997.
18 taihu rocks, hot tub with hydrotherapy jets, bathwater infused with herbs, and pine trees
collection of fonds national d'art contemporain
photo by hiro ihara courtesy cai studio

currently on display at the fine arts museum, taipei is the retrospective exhibition
of chinese born, new york based artist cai guo qiang. the show features numerous works
including day and night and toroko gorge, large drawings created from explosions
of gunpowder on sheets of paper covered with stencils. he initially began working
with gunpowder to foster spontaneity and confront the suppression that he felt from
the controlled artistic tradition and social climate in china at the time.

also on display is his 'head on' installation consisting of 99 life sized wolves running
in a high arc against walls.

be it creating elaborate installations, drawing his explosive art on paper, or illuminating
the sky with colorful fountains, bridges or dragons, all of cai guo-qiang’s works combine
chinese culture with western, post-conceptual thought.

'people say you can hang out with a pretty girl or hang out at an internet café. in essence,
the term ‘hang out’ means to enjoy something.' - cai guo-qiang explains the title of his
new show.

cai quo qiang 'hanging out at the museum' will be on view until february 21, 2010.


'tree with yellow blossoms', 2009
gunpowder on paper, mounted on wood as 4 panel folding screen
emmanuel perrotin galerie, paris france
photo by i-hua lee, courtesy cai studio


cai guo qiang creating the gunpowder drawing day and night, taipei, 2009
photo by on works


'head on' installation consisting of 99 life sized replicas of wolves and glass walls
wolves: gauze, resin and painted
commissioned by deutsche bank at deutsche guggenheim, berlin, 2006
photo by hiro ihara courtesy cai studio


'head on' installation shot
deutsche guggenheim, 2006
photo mathias schormann courtesy cai guo qiang

cai guo-qiang was born in 1957 in quanzhou city, fujian province, china. the son of
a historian and painter, cai was trained in stage design at the shanghai drama institute.
his work has, since the outset, been scholarly and often politically charged.