New Volume Examines Gunpowder and Other Exotic Materials in Art of Cai Guo-Qiang

Cai Guo-Qiang, born in 1957 in Quanzhou, China, and based in Manhattan, New York City since 1995, is among the most prominent contemporary artists active today.

He started his artistic career as a painter, and in the mid-1980s began incorporating gunpowder into his paintings. His use of this material to create explosion events, drawings, and paintings was a groundbreaking gesture that significantly contributed to his rise to international fame. He has used black gunpowder and colored daytime fireworks powders to create drawings and paintings on a variety of substrates. Gunpowder became his signature material, although Cai has developed his oeuvre fluidly across a variety of media and genres to include video, multimedia installations, and performances.

Based on extensive examination, sampling, and scientific analysis of a wide range of artworks, as well as in-depth interviews between the author and artist and with studio assistants, Cai Guo-Qiang: The Artist’s Materials (Getty Conservation Institute, $40) addresses the implications of Cai’s distinctive materials and processes and their associated conservation issues. Written for conservation scientists, conservators, specialists in contemporary art history, museum curators, collections managers, practicing artists, collectors, and art enthusiasts, this volume offers valuable insights into the life, methods, and materials of a leading figure in the art world. The technical discussions provide essential findings that will inform strategies for the future care of his works.