Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling back to earth

56 57 In the United States journal ARTnews , critic Barbara Pollack commented on numerous recent exhibitions that have explored the theme of war, devastation, obliteration and ruin. Works cited in these shows ranged from John Heartfield’s famous 1930s anti-war photomontages, Martha Rosler’s Runway from her ‘House beautiful: Bringing the war home’ series of 1967–72, Andy Warhol’s early 1960s ‘Disaster’ series and Michael Landy’s infamous Break down 2001, to name a few. The article, titled ‘Under destruction’, was bookended by the work of Cai Guo-Qiang, in particular Black Ceremony 2011, a gunpowder work in the desert, commissioned by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. The latter was interpreted as citing an image of terrorism under the rubric of the post-9/11 global landscape. To reconsider Cai’s explosion works, and indeed much of his practice, in the context of twenty-first-century global anxieties is prescient. The artist himself is acutely aware of the correspondence: While signaling alarm like ancient smoke signals, the ominous arc of smoke . . . also serves as a sombre and dreamlike salute and reminds us, despite our contemporary associations with explosive materials and warfare, that violence and its signifiers can possess ethereal and profound beauty. 2 This provocative statement requires us to grapple with decidedly uncomfortable assumptions. And Cai Guo-Qiang has always been interested in making works that challenge. From his early years as an artist, after leaving China for Japan in 1986, his trajectory has been to test. 3 Perhaps this is a result of an adolescence spent during Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966–76), when slogans such as ‘Revolt is reasonable’ were considered a critical strategy. Exposure to communist ideology and propaganda was a daily public experience, while in the private domain of the home, his milieu was that of a traditional Chinese upbringing: My father is a calligrapher; he makes traditional paintings and he also studies Chinese history. My home was always full of traditional artists and a love for traditional Chinese art; my family was always talking about the grandeur and accomplishment of Chinese art and civilisation. But the huge discrepancy between the greatness of the art and the dissatisfaction in Chinese society created a natural rebelliousness in me. I wanted to follow the Western tradition of oil painting and sculpture, and be influenced by Western thought. Now, looking back, I see I’ve inherited some of my father’s scholarly thinking; Chinese cultural tradition is a part of me. 4 [A]s my concern for the universe decreases, the cultural and humanistic concerns in my work have increased. Some critics have noted that I’ve returned from the heavens back to earth. 1 Cai Guo-Qiang Dragon, Rainbow Serpent, tiger, wolf and others Suhanya Raffel Black Ceremony explosion event realised outside Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar, 5 December 2011 for ‘Cai Guo-Qiang: Saraab’ Commissioned by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art Photograph: Hiro Ihara. Courtesy: Cai Studio Cai Ruiqin, Cai Guo-Qiang’s father, writing calligraphy, c.1970s Courtesy: Cai Studio